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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27664229">Six Monster au (Part 1)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Argus1987/pseuds/Argus1987'>Argus1987</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Six Monster AU [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Six - Marlow/Moss</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Creatures &amp; Monsters, Body Horror, Centaur Anna of Cleves, Centaurs, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/F, Faun Katherine Howard, Fauns &amp; Satyrs, Gargoyle Catherine of Aragon, Graphic Description, Illnesses, Lamiae, Monster Transformation, Monsters, Mythical Beings &amp; Creatures, Past Abuse, Six monster au, Sphinx Catherine parr, Sphinxes, Transformation, Yeti - Freeform, Yeti Jane seymour, centaur!anna, faun!kitty, gargoyle!catalina, lamia Anne Boleyn, lamia!anne, monster!anna, monster!anne, monster!catalina, monster!cathy, monster!jane, monster!kitty, sphinx!cathy, this is partially a sickfic, yeti!jane</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 22:35:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>28,046</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27664229</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Argus1987/pseuds/Argus1987</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Here it is! I'm finally writing stuff for this AU!</p><p>Basically, as the past comes back to haunt the Queens, things start going wrong</p><p>Due to a strange error in the supernatural process that brought them back to life, they begin to transform one by one, into new monstrous forms.<br/>They must learn to control and master their new beastly identities, reconcile with their past's and keep this situation hidden from the outside world.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Six Monster AU [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2269895</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>118</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a calm, overcast evening when Katherine Howard and her cousin Anne Boleyn went for a walk in the woods near their home. After months of non-stop shows and touring it was nice for the Queens to get some time to themselves at least for a few weeks. Anne, Katherine, Anna and Catalina were just relaxing in their secluded, country house away from the noise of the city. It was just becoming Autumn and a constant chill breeze was blowing through the trees dislodging the occasional leaf which were just starting to turn brown and orange.</p><p>“I must say…” Anne said as the pair rounded a small bend in the path they were following “I never thought I’d appreciate the feeling of being alone this much”</p><p>“alone?” Kat replied, “but I’m here with you?”</p><p>“Well…yeah” Anne laughed “I guess when you were always surrounded by a full entourage of servants and guards…” she said waving her hands around, gesturing at the non-existent entourage that would’ve been walking beside them in their previous life “or even now fans and theatre staff, just being with one other person makes you feel alone”</p><p>Kat nodded, it was true the world did feel, bigger and slightly more empty walking around with just Anne. The pair continued walking for a short distance and Kat decided to spice things up a bit walked closer to Anne flashing her a coy smirk, Anne smirked back “what are you up to kid?” she said in an amused drawl. Kitty just continued smirking for a few seconds more, before tapping Anne on the shoulder and shouting “you’re it!” before dashing off down the path.</p><p>“Really?” Anne laughed, taken aback by the childishness on display, but she complied not one to turn down some competitive sport. She took off after Kat playfully taunting her. The pair ran through the woods laughing and giggling leaves being tossed around by their footsteps.</p><p>Anne being taller and not one to lose so easily quickly caught up with Kat and tapped her on the shoulder, before quickly darting away in the other direction. The pair ran down a winding path, that went down a large gully. The two reached the stream at the bottom and began to run alongside it.</p><p>Then Anne’s foot landed on something that wasn’t grass, something that violently squirmed and hissed when her foot made contact. Anne screeched and jumped away from where she stood, Kat, caught up to her looking to where the sound came from.</p><p>A small black and green snake was slithering as quickly as it could from the pathway, Kat could just make out its face in the grass. It seemed almost offended, as it slid away in a huff.</p><p>“It’s okay Anne, it was just an adder,” Kat said, patting Anne’s shoulder. But Anne’s demeanour had changed.</p><p>She stood there watching the snake slither away, it spiralled around the roots of a nearby tree. Anne felt an odd sense of discomfort in her stomach, watching the creature coil around the roots. It reminded her of the classic biblical scene of the serpent in the garden. This was obviously not the case, this snake was just going about its day and was disturbed by them, but Anne couldn’t get the association out of her head.</p><p>Katherine sensed Anne’s discomfort, though she didn’t know exactly why Anne was acting strangely. “Anne?” Kat asked as Anne kept on staring wordlessly.</p><p>“I…” Anne started to say in a hushed voice “I think we should go back to the house; it’s getting late”</p><p>Anne was right, the sky was starting to darken, and the air was growing cold. Anne turned around and walked slowly back up the path. Kat, still taken aback by Anne’s shift in mood stilled on Anne’s decision but decided to go along with it without asking any questions.</p><p>The pair began walking back through the woods in silence, Kat held Anne’s hand an Anne accepted it, but she was still acting aloof.</p><p>Anne’s mind was buzzing with the image of the snake in the grass, thinking of the ideas she had in the past.</p><p>Snake…</p><p>It was such a normal, average word. For a normal, average creature. Of course, in her first life snakes weren’t called snakes, they were referred to as ‘serpents’ which was used interchangeably with ‘dragon’. It sounded much more threatening in that context, monstrous even. Like a creature that could strike down anyone in a single blow, that brought death and discord wherever it went. It was alien to Anne, to see such a symbol of evil in a normal even vulnerable state. It didn’t sit well with her; it was conflicting, to say the least.</p><p>Anne suddenly groaned in discomfort, Kat noticed instantly and put her other hand on Anne’s shoulder.</p><p>“Anne are you okay?”</p><p>And put a hand on her stomach and shook her head, sweat beginning to build on her forehead.</p><p>“I’m fine…” Anne said, forcing a smile. “Must’ve been something I ate” reasoning the sudden bout of nausea must be her stomach acting up.</p><p>“Let’s keep moving” Kat suggested placing her arm around Anne’s back and leading her up the path “we’ll get you some meds”</p><p>The pair slowly made their way out of the woods, into a large field covered in long grass with a natural path leading up to the house, which was still a while away. Dotted along the edges of the path, woven amongst the grass were thorn bushes. Lots of them, with spikes over two centimetres long. Kat shot a passing glance at one of the bushes and saw something perched on a twig. A small, grey bird.</p><p>Kat had gotten into the study and observation of wildlife in the past couple of weeks and had regularly gone to the field and woods to birdwatch. Kat immediately recognised the species of the bird, a Great grey shrike. A second after Kat saw the shrike sitting in the thorn bush, she immediately put two and two together and looked over the bushes and saw it.</p><p>“Anne, keep walking,” Kat said in a hurried tone walking a bit faster to encourage Anne to get past the bushes, but it was too late. Anne looked over at the bushes and saw it too. The bodies of several fieldmice impaled on the long sharp thorns, the branches and leaves painted with red.</p><p>Anne felt her stomach lurch and her nausea became so bad she started to dribble. The bloody sight brought up some dark memories.</p><p>The memories of her execution were one thing that Anne had to deal with, but what gave Anne the most grief was the knowledge that other innocents…her own brother, were pulled down with her. Her brother was hung, drawn and quartered, she remembered that horrible night. And how the next day, she saw his bloodied head, impaled on a spike.</p><p>Anne’s whole body trembled as she fell to her knee’s, Kat saw the pure horror in her cousin’s face. She was unnaturally pale, and her face was covered in sweat. Anne gagged audibly and vomited, her eyes virtually bulging out of her skull as she emptied the contents of her stomach onto the grassy ground.</p><p>Kat rushed up to her cousin, grabbing her by the shoulders trying to get Anne’s attention.</p><p>“Anne! Anne, look at me!” Kat shouted, “Anne what’s wrong?”</p><p>But Anne couldn’t focus on any one thing at that moment, her head was spiralling with disparate images from all manner of times. The snake in the grass, the bloodied mice, her brothers head, her own execution. Her mind was a whirlpool of her guilt and internal conflict.</p><p>Unable to make sense of anything, unable to focus. Anne looked up at her cousin, Kat's face was blurry and distorted in her mind's eye, which was being ravaged by a headache. Anne’s scar felt unbearably itchy under her chocker, she couldn’t tell if it was just sweat, or something else.  </p><p>“Kat…I…” Anne started to say, before upchucking the rest of that day’s lunch and finally collapsing onto the ground.</p><p>“Anne!” Kat shrieked pushing Anne onto her side, making sure her airway was unblocked. Kat felt herself start to panic. But she had to help Anne.</p><p>Kat fumbled her phone out of the pocket of her coat and dialled Catalina’s number. Normally Kat would call Jane, but Jane and Cathy had been away for the past couple of days, working with the ‘Ladies in Waiting’ on a possible new music venture. Without them, Catalina was the next safest bet.</p><p>Even though the house was only a short walk away, Kat didn’t want to leave Anne’s side, not for a second. She was terrified, uncertain as to what had just happened, and she didn’t want to risk anything for her cousin’s life.</p><p>Within minutes of making the call, Catalina picked up.</p><p>“Katherine, what’s happening?”</p><p>Kat gasped in relief at Catalina’s voice before stumbling over herself to give a reply</p><p>“Lina, please! I need your help!”</p><p>“Why are you calling me? I thought you and Anne were just in the forest?”</p><p>“Lina it’s Anne! She’s sick, she just threw up and fainted!”</p><p>There was a momentary pause.</p><p>“Where are you two?”</p><p>“In the field, on the path!”</p><p>“Alright, we’ll be right there”</p><p>It only took a few minutes for Catalina and Anna to find them on the path, but it was some of the longest minutes of Kat’s life. If the minutes leading up to her death had been the longest in her previous life, these minutes could’ve been the equivalent in the modern-day.</p><p>“What happened?” Anna called as she rushed over to Anne and Katherine.</p><p>“I don’t know!” Kat shouted, trying as hard as she could to not cry. “She started feeling sick, so we started c-coming back, then she w-was vomiting and…and…” Kat blubbered as her tears began falling.</p><p>Anna rubbed Kats shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, Kitty placed her hand over Anna’s as a show of appreciation. Lina was kneeling by Anne and feeling her forehead.</p><p>“She’s running a fever,” Lina said shaking her head “She must have caught a bug, or maybe its food poisoning? I don’t know” she trailed off.   </p><p>Lina and Anna walked over to Anne and lifted her. They rested her arms over each of their shoulders and placed their arms around her back to support her. And walked her to the house. Kat trailed behind them, having calmed down significantly but still deeply concerned. Kat thought about that day, and what happened leading up to Anne’s fainting.</p><p>The forest, the snake the shrikes kill. Kat couldn’t shake this dreadful feeling that they were connected somehow and that it wasn’t just food poisoning. The rational part of Kat’s brain told her that it was nothing, just a coincidence and that Anne would recover, and she’d be fine.</p><p>But Kat still had this feeling, that this was the start of something else.</p><p>She felt a shudder of nervousness as she glanced back at the woods, now dark and foreboding.</p><p>It almost felt like the woods were beckoning to her.</p><p>  </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Faun's tail</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <strong>7:05 pm, the following night</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Kitty sat alone in the living room, the orange and red rays of the setting sun peeking through the curtains, illuminating the still house in an ethereal glow. She was sitting at the dining table mindlessly browsing Instagram on her phone. She was wearing the same clothes from last night after she’d taken the vomit-stained ones off and gone to bed. Just a pink sweater, a pair of Black leggings and black and white converse. Kitty’s nerves were eating at her stomach, she tried to maintain a calm appearance but in truth, she couldn’t help but be worried.</p><p>It had been an entire day since Anne had fallen ill, once she had been brought back to the house Anne had been laid in her bed and her temperature had been taken. As they had suspected Anne was running a fever, but her temperature wasn’t as high as feared. Anne eventually became a bit more responsive, but she was in no space to move or do anything. So, she stayed in bed for the entirety of the next day. Just sleeping, and occasionally accepting food and medicine.</p><p>Kitty had been the one to go and check up on her most often, as Anne’s state was bringing back unpleasant memories for Catalina and Anna. Kitty understood it’s not often one can have flashbacks of their own death.</p><p>Kitty thought about what Anne had said yesterday about being alone. How she had joked about how when you’re always surrounded by an entourage, having just one other person around is enough to make you feel alone. Kitty sighed; it appears Anne jinxed them with that observation. Now she really was alone…</p><p>Very…very…alone.</p><p>Ever since they had returned to the present day, Anne and Kitty had been by each other’s sides. Supporting each other and comforting each other during the nightmares, flashbacks and other burdens of having been beheaded in their past lives and villainized by history.</p><p>Often when the stress got too much for one cousin, the other would be there to comfort them. Many nights had been spent in each other’s beds mutually helping each other. Anne often struggled with insomnia, Kitty with night terrors. Both would huddle together, feeling safer together when the past reared its ugly head.</p><p>But now that Anne was sick and in a lot of pain, Kitty didn’t want to disturb her. Out of guilt and obligation, Kitty stayed away from Anne’s room, only coming in to bring Anne food, water and medicine.</p><p>Kitty was faced with a great conflict of interests. She was scared and stressed and would normally go to Anne for comfort and safety. But Anne’s illness was the reason for her stress, and Kitty didn’t want to disturb her, in fear that would stall the healing process.</p><p>Kitty looked over at the entrance hallway, the coatrack that was normally adorned with everyone’s coats, hats and accessories was looking very empty.</p><p>“Kat, you make sure Anne’s got clean water?” Anna had said to her an hour ago as she gathered her coat and keys.</p><p>“Anna…where are you going?” Kitty asked quietly.</p><p>“I’m going into town to get some better meds for Anne, if she doesn’t get any better by tomorrow, we’ll have to take her to the hospital” Anna answered, putting on her coat.</p><p>Kitty didn’t reply, she just stood there in silence her nerves threatening to devour her. Anna sensed something was wrong and put a reassuring hand on Kitty’s shoulder. “What’s wrong Liebling?”</p><p>Kitty glanced to her right, chewing on her bottom lip for a second “I…I’m scared Anna, I don’t know what’s going to happen, I’m not good at taking care of things by myself”</p><p>Anna just gave Kitty a reassuring smile and stroked her temple, lifting Kitty’s gaze to match her own. “You don’t need to worry about a thing, Anne is strong! She’ll be fine”</p><p>Kitty gave a small smile in response, as Anna pulled away. “I’ll be back soon, Catalina’s upstairs but she’s feeling tired, and you know what she’s like when she’s tired”</p><p>Anna walked towards the door “Don’t be afraid Liebling I’ll be back before you know it! Cathy and Jane may be back soon so you can tell them what happened…</p><p>…take care Kat” that was the last thing Anna said before walking out the front door.</p><p>An hour later Katherine watched the front door waiting for it to open, waiting for Anna to return, waiting to be able to feel safe again.</p><p>She waited for Anna, Cathy, Jane or anyone to return home….</p><p>But nobody came.</p><p>Kitty just sighed, switched off her phone’s screen, and got up. She walked over to the kitchen and filled a pitcher with cold water and grabbed a clean glass from the cupboard. Kitty left the kitchen and made her way up the stairs to Anne’s room.</p><p>Kitty considered knocking but she instead just pushed the door open gently. Anne was still lying in her bed, still as a log. Her forehead was still dotted with sweat, stray strands of hair sticking to it. Kitty hated seeing her cousin like this, still quiet and in pain. She missed the wild, rough and tumble Anne who’d always make things interesting and take risks. For her to be struck down by an illness like this was nothing short of an insult.</p><p>“I-I brought you some more water Anne,” Kitty said in a hushed tone. Kitty took the still full glass of water that had been sitting on Anne’s bedside table for the past couple of hours and replaced it with the clean glass, filling it with water from the pitcher.</p><p>“Everyone’s on edge right now, it’s bad enough that Lina and Anna are affected,” Kitty told Anne, still with a lowered voice. Anne didn’t respond, she continued sleeping still pale and sweaty.</p><p>Kitty felt Anne’s forehead “I think your fever is starting to break Anne!” Kitty said with a bit more enthusiasm “once Anna gets back, you’ll feel so much better! It’ll be like nothing even happened”</p><p>Kitty was saying this to herself more than Anne at this point, in an attempt to assure herself that all would be well, to give herself hope for her cousin’s safety. Kitty’s smile faltered as her hand travelled from Anne’s forehead to her cheek, rubbing her cousins’ skin affectionately.</p><p>“P-Please get better Anne…I miss you”</p><p>Kitty took her hand off Anne and slowly walked out of the room. She shot Anne one more glance before closing the door.</p><p>Right as Kitty left the room, Anne squirmed in discomfort, the fever was only the beginning for her.</p><p>The next stage was beginning.</p><p> </p><p>Kitty walked back downstairs and plonked down on the living room couch. Kitty let her head fall back and finally, she began to sniffle, then she started full-on crying. The emotions that had built up over the past day and a half were now too much. Kitty wasn’t ready to bear the sudden confusion and stress alone. No number of meaningless platitudes could change how Kitty felt, no matter how many times she heard the phrase ‘It’ll be fine’ it only reinforced how it wasn’t.</p><p>Kitty’s sobs dyed down to hiccups and sniffles as Kitty wiped her tears on the sleeve of her sweater. She looked around the dark, empty space. Then she looked out the glass stacking doors to see the outdoors.</p><p>The field was orange with the rays of the sunset, behind the illuminated field stood the forest. Already dark standing against a royal blue sky.</p><p>Kitty remembered that feeling she had yesterday, how the woods were calling to her in a sense…how it felt like she was being pulled towards them like a gravitational pull. Now the pull was stronger, maybe the woods had grown more powerful, maybe it was because of Kitty’s frayed emotional state. Either way, the forest’s influence was creeping up Kitty’s psyche like ivy.</p><p>Wordlessly, Kitty stood up, walked over to the glass doors, slid them open and walked out.</p><p>Kitty calmly walked down the path through the hillside field towards the dark woods. She was unnaturally calm, her face neutral as if she was in a trance. The looming shadow of the woods drew nearer as she walked closer. She was now at the threshold of the open field and the dark woods. If she crossed, she would be out of sight for anyone in the house. This was dangerous, but Kitty had pushed all rational thought to the back of her head and kept on walking.</p><p>As Kitty walked deeper into the woods the tree got progressively bigger and taller. Tall oaks and pines standing tall amongst the smaller bushes and foliage, framed by the occasional mossy stone or fallen log.</p><p>Kitty kept walking looking around at the wild environment. The last of the birdsong was dying down as the day neared its end, the whole woods were dark blue in the evening shadows with the occasional orange ray of the remaining sunlight piercing through the trees. Kitty looked down at the earth as she walked across it. The ground was mossy, covered in small plants, herbs and flowers, with the occasional mushroom and pebble sitting amongst clumps of dandelions and grass.</p><p>Kitty felt at peace, her overwhelming nerves had disappeared, her worries nowhere to be found. Something about the woods was comforting to her, it felt comforting, familiar in a sense…</p><p>…like she belonged there.</p><p>Kitty then came to a clearing in the forest. A ring of tall yet thin oak trees standing in a ring around a small patch of grass. A small creek ran through the clearing and beside it was two large mossy boulders and an oak log. The perfect place to sit.</p><p>Kitty walked over to the log and sat down, facing the creek. This area was more well-lit than the rest of the woods. Looking up she saw the moon, round and full bathing the forest in its silver light. Kitty looked around the area, everything was so much clearer with the additional moonlight. Kitty could hear crickets start to chirp, their music echoing through the woods. Kitty smiled and let her head fall back and her eyes shut, basking in the tranquil beauty of the forest.</p><p>Then she heard something move next to her. Her eyes snapped open and she looked to her left. A red fox was sitting on one of the boulders looking down on her from its elevated perch.</p><p>Kitty was stunned, she had never seen a live fox this close before. Even in her first life, the only foxes she saw were freshly killed and skinned ones. In the modern-day, the closest she got to see a live fox was one that was patrolling a train station.</p><p>This fox wasn’t like the train station fox, which was dirty, thin and fearful as it scampered away. This one was healthy-looking, fluffy and had brilliant red fur and shining brown eyes. It was also completely free of fear, peering at her with curiosity its head tilted slightly.</p><p>Kitty could almost hear Jane scolding her for being so close to a random, wild animal and what a bad idea it would be to touch it. But Kitty didn’t care at this moment, this creature was harmless, she could just tell somehow that it meant no harm.</p><p>It trusted her.</p><p>Slowly she lifted her arm and reached out, the fox didn’t even flinch as she expected it to. She offered her hand and the fox reciprocating the gesture, leaning forwards it sniffed her hand and nudging her fingers with its nose.</p><p>Kitty giggled at how strange this was, she had no idea foxes could be so friendly. This one was rubbing its head on her hand like a cat.</p><p>She heard something else to her right, looking over still petting the fox she saw two small rabbits sitting beside her on the log. Kitty giggled louder at the remarkable sight.</p><p>She was no stranger to rabbits; she saw them all the time in the field, but they always darted away the moment they saw a human. The fact that these two rabbits were sitting right next to her with a fox in plain sight was laughable. Kitty grinned petting the fox with one hand and the rabbits with the other. She had no idea why he was making friends with the forest animals so easily, they just…trusted her like she was a friend.  </p><p>Kitty then shuddered as a cold breeze blew through the trees. The sweater she was wearing wasn’t enough to keep her warm, it was just a thin, polyester sweater with nothing else but her underwear. Kitty stood up, her animal friends scampered back slightly but not leaving her area, still looking up at her. Kitty, not wanting to be the second member of the household to fall sick by catching a cold. But as she took a step forward, she realized…</p><p>…she had no idea where she was.</p><p>She had never been to this part of the woods before, the path that she normally followed was nowhere to be seen. She didn’t even know which direction she came from, nothing but identical-looking trees surrounded her for miles. And to make matters worse, the last of the sunlight had disappeared, and even the full moon wasn’t enough to illuminate the woods for Kitty to find her way back.</p><p>Kitty felt the calm tranquillity that the woods had previously provided her morph into the familiar feeling of fear and anxiety. Only this time it was because she was lost in the dark. Kitty’s fear then turned into frustration and disbelief, she started to mentally cuss herself out.</p><p>
  <em>“Why did I walk so far off the path!?!</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Why did I walk off the path at all?!</em>
</p><p>
  <em>WHY AM I EVEN HERE!?!”</em>
</p><p>Normally Kitty would beat herself up mentally for longer, but now she had to focus on getting out of the woods and back home.</p><p>Kitty took a deep breath in an attempt to clear her head, before walking over to the edge of the clearing. She paused when she heard a whimper behind her, she looked around and saw the fox and rabbits now sitting on the ground behind her, looking almost sad to see her leave.</p><p>“I’m sorry, I have to go home,” Kitty said to the disappointed animals, mentally cursing herself out again for talking to animals.</p><p>The fact that she mindlessly walked into the woods at night and is now talking to animals was further proof to Kitty that she was losing her mind. But the animals were being equally weird.</p><p><em>“Since when did predator and prey sit together so calmly?” </em>Kitty thought looking at them in confusion.</p><p>Kitty then remembered her phone; it was still in her pocket. She took it out and turned on the screen, the glowing light from the screen comforted her. Kitty considered calling someone again but decided against it, turning on the phone's flashlight instead and shining it through the trees. Kitty then saw some footprints in the dirt, her footprints.</p><p>Kitty grinned, now she could retrace her steps and make it out of the woods. She turned again to her animal friends who still looked disappointed.</p><p>“Well…nice meeting you, maybe we can see each other again soon?”</p><p>Kitty decided that as long as she could go home talking to animals wasn’t so bad. And that it’s not every day you get to pet both a wild fox and rabbits.</p><p>But just as Kitty was about to take another step, she felt her entire body jolt and she froze on the spot. It was like the feeling of suddenly being touched by something cold, except her entire body had been touched by coldness.</p><p>Kitty yelped in shock as she felt her whole body break out in pins and needles, she felt…strange. This wasn’t her feeling cold from the wind, this feeling came from within.</p><p>Then Kitty felt an intense pain erupt from her lower back, this time she screamed at the crushing sensation attacking her spine. The pain was so bad she fell onto her knees, clenching her teeth in pain as cold sweat flooded her skin. The cramping feeling was coming from the base of her spine, she put a hand on her backside and felt something pushing against the fabric of her pants. Kitty didn’t have time to ponder what it was, she just knew she had to release the pressure. She grabbed the waistband of her leggings and yanked it down. Then the trapped growth burst free from its confines, Kitty gasped at the alien feeling coming from her back.</p><p>Slowly she turned around and saw what had burst from her rear.</p><p>A tail…</p><p>…a reddish-brown, bushy tail with a dark tip.</p><p>Kitty was stunned, she could feel this tail, move it.</p><p>In a blind frenzy of panic, she grabbed her new tail and yanked it, trying to pull it off. She bent it right upward exposing the snow-white underside.</p><p>But it wasn’t just stuck to her, it wasn’t a costume piece she could remove.</p><p>It was growing out of her back; it was an extension of her spine…</p><p>…it was a part of her.</p><p>Kitty began sweating even harder, this couldn’t be happening. She was a human, not an animal, humans aren’t supposed to have tails! only animals had tails!</p><p>Kitty then felt a tingle in her ears, it felt like they were being ‘pulled’ she let go of her tail and reached for her ears. True to the pulling feeling, her ears were being stretched, rapidly becoming bigger. Kitty kept feeling her ears, they were becoming pointed and were starting to feel fuzzy.</p><p>Kitty gasped as one of her ears jerked out of her fingers, this was impossible, she had never been able to move her ears before. Even for the people she knew who could move their ears, they couldn’t move like this. Adding to Kitty’s stress they kept on moving, up down sideways they were more flexible than any humans’ ears should be.</p><p>“Stop! STOP!” Kitty screeched under her breath, grabbing both her ears in her hands and squeezing them. They ignored her pleas and kept on growing, becoming larger and fuzzier.</p><p>Tears streaked down Kitty’s face as her body kept on changing, she didn’t know what was happening to her, why was she becoming more and more animal?</p><p>Kitty now knew she had to get up, the forest was doing this to her and if she couldn’t escape, she might never be able to leave.</p><p>Kitty tried to stand up but as fate would have it the muscles in her shins and feet began cramping and aching with the same intensity that her tail had before it popped. Kitty cried in pain immediately falling onto her chest as her legs began to buckle and shift. In a desperate attempt to escape Kitty grabbed the earth and tried to pull herself across the ground as her legs were in too much pain for her to walk or even stand.</p><p>Kitty’s shins were shrinking, her muscles bulging and shifting as her bones reformed. As her shins shortened to half their length the opposite started happening to her feet. Her the bones in her feet snapped and popped, jutting out and pressing against the material of her shoes. Kitty groaned in pain, her tears blurring her vision as her toes were compacted. It felt like her feet were being crushed by a hydrologic press, every bone-breaking and then immediately reforming in new shapes. Soon the pressure from her feet caused the toes of her shoes to burst open. Her mangled, squished toes jutted out and continued to grow. As her feet grew longer her toes began fusing, going from five to two toes her toenails becoming bigger and darkening in colour.</p><p>Kitty squeezed her eyes tight shut, this had to be a nightmare, this couldn’t be real. Despite the feeling of her tail swishing, the feeling of her long ears in her hands and the continuous shifting of her legs she refused to believe this was happening.</p><p>But her body continued changing, she felt a stinging, itching sensation blooming across her skin. It was like needles where being pierced into every inch of her skin. It felt like hives, but somehow even itchier. She felt her shoulders ache and buckle, her nose popped and jutted forward, and then…</p><p>…it stopped.</p><p>The pain suddenly ended, and so did the itching. Her body finally calmed down. Kitty’s eyes snapped open after it all stopped. The first thing she was greeted with was the face of the fox who was sniffing her face. The fox licked her nose like it was a curious puppy, Kitty reflexively scrunched up her nose and pulled her head away. She sat up and looked around, everything looked…different.</p><p>The colour’s of the woods were less vibrant, less saturated but everything was lighter. The dark shadows of the night less oppressive. She breathed through her nose and almost sneezed at how powerful her sense of smell now was. She could smell almost everything, the dirt, the trees, the traces of various animals surrounding her, including her rabbit and fox friends. Her ears swivelled picking all sorts of sounds from the surrounding area, from the faintest rustle of leaves to a bird perched in the trees some distance away.</p><p>Kitty rubbed her temple as the last of the pain subsided by her eyes widened as she slowly lowered her hand into her field of view. Both her hands were covered in light, reddish-tan, fur. Her nails had turned dark and shone like polished wood.</p><p>“What…” escaped Kitty’s lips has she gawked at her altered hands. The scale of how much she’d changed was starting to dawn on her as she looked down at her body.</p><p>Her feet where now cloven hooves, covered in slightly darker fur, the remnants of her shoes still clinging onto her ankles.</p><p>“Aw man, I really liked shoes,” Kitty thought to herself, momentarily forgetting that her entire lower body more closely resembled a deer than a human.</p><p>Kitty lifted her sweater up to look at her belly, the fur covered her entire body not just her face. Her belly was covered with a layer of fluffy, soft fur. A paler peach colour than the tan fur on her hands and legs. Kitty looked behind her once more, her fluffy tail now didn’t look so out of place as it wiggled with her nervousness.</p><p>Kitty tried to stand up, but she didn’t know how she was supposed to stand on her new hooves. Like a newborn fawn, she wobbled and stumbled trying to balance herself before falling face-first back onto the ground, her butt sticking in the air tail standing up like a surrender flag.</p><p>One of the rabbits hopped over to her face, looking at her with what looked like concern.</p><p>“Thanks, but I don’t need your help,” Kitty said in frustration, no point in chastising herself for talking to animals seeing as she practically was one now.</p><p>Kitty, keeping her hands on the ground walked her hooves upwards until she was standing on her hooves. After getting into this unorthodox yoga pose Kitty lifted her torso and got into a standing position. She wobbled again but standing with her hooves hip-width apart she maintained her balance, standing with her knees slightly bent.</p><p>Kitty looked around and saw the creek, slowly and steadily she walked over to the water still not used to the sensation of walking on the tips of her toes. Once she reached the water’s edge she knelt down and looked in.</p><p>Kitty knew her ears were big, but it was another thing to see them, large cervine ears that were the same reddish caramel colour as her legs and tail. They stood up to attention in surprise once Kitty laid eyes upon them.  </p><p>Her face was mostly unchanged, but it was covered in a thin layer of fur, the pale peach fur around her mouth and cheeks. Darker fur on her forehead and nose bridge with pale flecks dotting it. Her nose was dark and wet like an animal, her nostrils flaring in distress. Her eyes will still chestnut brown, but her pupils were horizontal rectangles instead of round.</p><p>Kitty stared at her reflection for a good, few minutes, trying to process what had happened to her. She was now half human, half deer.</p><p>“SHIT!” she barked once she was done processing</p><p>“What am I going to do?” she yelped, her ears flattening against her head. “What am I going to tell the others? I’m fucked!”</p><p>Kitty stood up, her ears twitching. It was different having goosebumps with fur which was now standing on end.</p><p>Kitty now understood, the forest had been calling to her and once it had her it made her its own. Now she was a creature of the woods.</p><p>She had seen creatures like herself in books and illustrations before, human with hooved feet that lived in the wild amongst nature.</p><p>A faun.</p><p>But Kitty was stubborn and didn’t accept that.</p><p>Shooting a glance at her animal friends who had joined her by the creek, the fox had missed the memo and was drinking from the water.</p><p>“Look, this changes nothing!” Kitty said standing up, talking more to herself than the animals</p><p>“I’m going home! Where I belong!” she stated, picking up her phone from where she dropped it</p><p>“I may be a deer but I’m still human too! No amount of…of…” she stammered waving her hands trying to think of a description</p><p>“…arcane forest magic! Will change that!” she concluded walking away.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>7:52 pm</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Kitty didn’t even need the light of her phone because her deer eyes gave her excellent night vision, better than any humans. She walked back through the trees until she found the path that leads back to the house. Her ears pricked when she heard something scamper up behind her, looking behind her, she saw the fox and rabbits only this time there were some other animals with them. Some more rabbits, another fox, a trio of squirrels and a hedgehog.</p><p>Kitty smirked “You brought some friends along huh? Wow I must be somewhat of a celebrity in this forest”</p><p>The animals followed her up the path, weaving around her hooves, looking up at her with wide eyes. The way the reacted to her felt like a strange type of admiration, she really was a celebrity to them.</p><p>Once she reached the edge of the woods the animals stopped following her, not wanting to venture out of the safety of the woods into the exposed field. Kitty looked behind her at her woodland friends.</p><p>“Not coming? Okay fair enough, this is the domain of humans I guess, but…I’ll be back!” she said with an affectionate flick of her tail.</p><p>The animals understood this and disappeared back into the shadows of the forest. Kitty smiled as she walked up the path back to the house. She remembered what Anne had said yesterday about how they were once surrounded by an entourage at all times. That was the closest thing to that feeling Kitty had felt in a while. Kitty laughed under her breath, a royal entourage didn’t have to be a large group of ladies, servants and guards. Sometimes it could be a bunch of woodland animals who took a liking to you.</p><p>Kitty made her way up to the house and realized that she was going to have to explain herself to the rest of the Queens. Kitty gulped in the realization that she had no reasonable explanation for what happened to her and she was going to have to improvise.</p><p>Kitty put her hands together and placed her fingertips against her lips. She could say she was in costume but had never done cosplay before, and even the most detailed costumes didn’t have moving ears and tails.</p><p>Kitty’s ears fell as she let out a sigh</p><p>“Okay..” she said lowering her hands, fingers still together “I’ll just tell them what happened as it was…that I don’t know why it happened, but I’m still me and that we can figure this out!” Kitty brightened at her little pep talk; the situation didn’t seem so bad now.</p><p>“Besides…” she kept on saying in an amused drawl, what’s the worst that can happen now?”</p><p>Kitty’s speech was interrupted by a bloodcurdling cry quickly followed by the sound of shattering glass.</p><p>Kitty’s heart leapt into her throat as her nerves skyrocketed in fear. Quick as a flash she ducked into a bush planted by the living room stacking doors. She felt herself trembling in fear as her ears swivelled around listening for any following sounds.</p><p>After a few minutes of no sounds or signs of anything Kitty slowly emerged from the bush, looking and listening for any signs of danger. She looked almost indistinguishable from a genuine doe, checking for predators.</p><p>Kitty jumped up onto the deck and peered through the glass doors, she peered into the living room. It was as she left it, but something was wrong. There was a smell prevalent throughout the house, it was one Kitty couldn’t identify, but it caused the fur on her back to stand on end.</p><p>Her ear flicked with nervousness as she slowly entered the house, it was dark, but Kitty could see that everything was still in its place.</p><p>“Catalina! Anne!? Anna!?! Anyone!!?” she called out, no response.</p><p>Without a second thought she raced up the stairs, she sniffed the air again and smelled something that was Anne, but it was mixed with something else…something sharp and sinister.</p><p>Kitty reached Anne’s room and she sniffed again, she could smell something else clearly now…</p><p>…blood.</p><p>Kitty wrenched open Anne’s door and gasped in terror at the horrible sight.</p><p>Anne’s bed was empty, but blood and loose flaps of skin were strewn about the bed sheets and floor. It was as if Anne’s skin had been peeled right off.</p><p>The vile scene caused Kitty to feel sick to her stomach, the overwhelming scent of blood and open flesh didn’t help. But what made Kitty feel even worse were two pieces of solid flesh sitting on the floor. These weren’t just pieces of loose skin; they were Anne’s legs. Purple and bloodless with the bones poking out from her severed thighs.</p><p>Kitty trembled at her cousin’s limbs which were lying limp on the ground, what on earth happened here? Where was Anne? What had done this to her!?</p><p>Kitty looked up and saw the source of the second sound she’d heard, Anne’s window was broken. Cautious of the shattered glass lying on the floor Kitty walked over to the window and looked out. No sign of Anne, but a familiar scent punctuating the air.</p><p>Kitty knew that the only way she’ll find out what happened to Anne was to follow the scent.</p><p>With a deep breath, Kitty ran back down the stairs, back outside and traced the scent back down the path…</p><p>…back into the forest.  </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>  </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I did some research, apparently, deer have a sense of smell that's as good as a dog's. Hence Kitty being able to sniff out Anne, that's all</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Lamia's fang</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Gore and graphic imagery warning with this chapter, you've been warned</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>7:10 pm, that same night</strong>
</p><p>
  
</p><p>Anne was bathing in her own sweat, she tossed and turned, sheets sticking to her and binding her like a fly ensnared in a spider’s web. The fever was splitting her head apart, she couldn’t think, feel or do anything as her mind was clouded in a hot, throbbing haze.</p><p>Anne gasped, clawing at her pillow staining it with more drool. Her mouth was still coated with the bitter taste of her last puke, she really didn’t want to throw up again, her stomach still aching from the last time. She tried to open her eyes; she saw only coloured smudges clouded her vision. Every single light in the room was blending together into one incoherent mess, all she could see was this Van Gough painting from hell. Every sound felt as loud as a gunshot, Anne was amazed that her ears weren’t bleeding from all the devastating noise.</p><p>Anne’s mind began to drift, her eyes shut again, and she began to fade into her subconscious. Random images flashed through her mind of the previous day. Of the snake Kitty found in the grass, of the mice they found impaled on the thorns. The images made Anne feel a pang of anxiety as she began to sink into some distant, unpleasant memories. </p><p>She remembered the day she was escorted to the scaffold, the jeering crowd filling her every sense, the accusations that lead her to this demise being thrown upon her like stones.</p><p>“Whore!” </p><p>“Slut!”</p><p>“Temptress!”</p><p>“Witch!”</p><p>“Demon”</p><p>“Devil!”</p><p>It didn’t matter that Anne knew she was innocent; it didn’t matter that she was none of the things they said she was. When people felt things like that were true, there was no telling them no. Even nowadays Anne felt darkness inside her sometimes, when she thought that history was chanting the same mantra. She felt as if it didn’t matter if she was innocent if everyone believed she wasn’t, she was as good as guilty.</p><p>Anne was mentally back at the scaffold, but when she approached it, she was already there. Except it was her past self, kneeling before the swordsman. </p><p>Before Anne could shut her eyes, her head was already gone. It tumbled from her neck, off the scaffold and right before her feet. </p><p>Anne felt even sicker at the grizzly sight, of her own bleeding head sitting before her. Her own blank lifeless eyes staring up at her as blood leaked from every orifice in her face, forming a red puddle surrounding the head. Her stomach lurched and she felt herself hyperventilating in panic. But then it somehow got even worse.</p><p>A snake, similar to the one she saw in the forest, slithered out of her severed heads gaping mouth. Anne gagged as the snake made its way out of her head like an unholy tongue. </p><p>Soon the rest of her head began to dissolve, the skin melting away into even more snakes, soon her head was an entire nest of dark green snakes that spread out across the cobblestones. Anne stepped back only to turn around and see even more snakes, big ones behind her. Spinning around she looked and saw them everywhere, surrounding her. The crowd was gone, replaced with the same tall trees of the forest, but this time it was teeming with snakes. Coiling around branches, slithering through dirt and grass. But Anne could still hear the chants.</p><p>“Temptresssssssssss”</p><p>“Ssssssslut”</p><p>“Devilsss ssspwan”</p><p>“Ssssssssserpent of Sssssatan”</p><p>Anne felt the snake’s coil around her body, up her legs, winding around her arms. Entrapping her within them. </p><p>Anne felt something in her hand, something firm and rounded. But she wasn’t holding anything right? She looked at her hand and saw an apple, the forbidden fruit.</p><p>“NO!” Anne screamed as she threw the apple as hard as she could away from her “that’s…that’s not who I am!” Anne screamed in protest “That’s not what happened!” </p><p>The voices continued “Creaturesssss like usssss, don’t care about the truth.”</p><p>Anne felt tears stream down her face as she shook her head “No…no I’m not like you…I’m nothing like you!”</p><p>Anne grabbed a fistful of snakes from her arm and pulled, trying to get them off her. The snake just hissed and bit her hard on the hand. Anne screamed as vivid pain and numbness overtook her hand. She stumbled backwards and the snakes wove around her legs and tripped her. Anne fell on her back and felt the snakes completely entangle her. Wrapping her up like a mummy.</p><p>As the snakes began to weave over her eyes, blocking her vision she heard the voices again.</p><p>“Jusssst embracccce it, it doesssn’t matter what you think happened, if everyone sees you like thisss then you might asss live with it…</p><p>They always sssaw you asss a Ssserpent, even before your fall…</p><p> </p><p>…So why not bare your fangs?”</p><p> </p><p>Anne had gone still in her bed; in her mind, she was still trapped under the combined weight of a hundred snakes. Then she opened her eyes…</p><p>…but they weren’t her eyes anymore.</p><p> </p><p>They were bright yellow, showing no white, her pupil’s dark slits.</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly Anne screamed in pain, her entire head was cracking and shifting beneath her skin, she could feel it right down to the bone. It was as if she was being torn apart from the inside. She grabbed her head and pulled at her temples, she could feel movement beneath her skin, like something was bubbling to the surface. Her entire forehead bulged forwards her brow being pushed to its limits, accentuating her pained scowl. Then six large bumps appeared on the top of her brow, Anne felt an agonizing pain, like an immense pressure was being forced on her head. Surely enough the skin on her brow split and the bumps burst revealing a row of bony spikes, decorating her brow ridge. Like a tiara of bony thorns. </p><p>The pain was driving Anne insane and feeling her skin burst and blood spill from her gaping forehead did nothing to ease her panicked state. Her heart was beating at an immeasurable tempo, and every bone in her body was aching to the core. Anne lifted a trembling hand and felt the spikes, she froze when her fingers touched the bony growths. She felt a loose piece of skin fall into her hand, she lowered her hand and gasped at the slimy, piece of bloody skin in her hand. </p><p>Anne hoisted herself up and moved out of her bed, she didn’t know what she was doing, but she had to get out, to escape. But she just fell out of her bed landing with a thud, chest-first on the floor. Anne tried to push herself up with her arms, but she couldn’t get up, she couldn’t feel her legs.</p><p>Then her head began to crack and snap again, this time it felt like her entire head was being pulled apart. And it was, her lower jaw being dislocated, pulled downwards for her skull. As her entire jaw was dragged away the skin on her face split, starting from the corners of her mouth, ending at her ears. Anne’s screams faded into an agonized throaty gurgling, as the skin on her chin flopped away and landed on the floor with a slimy ‘plop’. The rest of the skin on her lower jaw began to fall away, dissolving and crumbling as if it was made of wet paper. As her skin fell away, it revealed underneath, a new skin of shiny green scales. </p><p>Anne lay on the ground gasping and wheezing as her jaw was being wrenched open. Her entire mouth had been widened, stretching to her cheekbones. It looked as if someone had taken a knife to her face and carved a fixed grin into her cheeks from the corners of her mouth. </p><p>As the skin around her face kept falling away her ears began to grow longer as the skin fell off them. They grew too long tapered points sticking outwards. Everything was suddenly much louder; all sounds were much clearer. So, Anne could hear the squelching of her skin dripping away and the cracking of her bones in all its gory detail.</p><p>Anne tried to scream again but all that came out was more gargling and a spurt of blood. Everything in her mouth was moving around, shifting, finding new homes. All Anne could do was leave her mouth hanging open as saliva flooded from her jaws. In her upper gums, two bulbous masses began to swell, pushing her canine teeth out of the way and out of her head. With another spurt of blood, two needle-like fangs popped out of them. The fangs curved downwards stretching to over an inch long, they were hollow, like syringes, dripping with venom. </p><p>Anne felt something fleshy building up in her mouth, it kept gathering and gathering, clogging her throat. She hung her head down and opened her mouth wider, wider than any human should be able to. The mass flopped out and Anne saw and felt, to her disgust, that it was her tongue. It had turned a dark purple, and it was being stretched. It slowly wormed its way out of her mouth, becoming thinner and longer, tapering at the end. Then it stopped, Anne gasped and gagged as her tongue hung in mid-air, then the end stretched just a bit further, and it split in half just down the tip. </p><p>Anne felt her stomach sink when she saw it, her tongue had become forked. Deep cramping in her gut caused her to snap her head up and cry out in pain. But her cry sounded like a cross between a gargle and a hiss. Her tongue flicking in and out of her mouth as it happened.</p><p>Tears fell down Anne’s shredded cheeks, the nightmare was coming true, she was becoming the serpent she had been reviled as. And there was nothing she could do to stop it.</p><p> </p><p>Anne’s fingers began to twitch and crack, she looked down to see her fingernails cracked and bleeding. Her fingers bulged and swelled as if fluid was being pumped under her skin. Anne winced as she felt the bones in her hand shifting, it felt like her fingers had expanded to the point of bursting. Surely enough, they did burst, like skin and blood-filled balloons, and out of her fingertips grew long dark, curved, claws. The claws kept growing until they were over three inches long and could put Freddy Kruger to shame. Her fingers expanded to accommodate her killer claws, forcing more of her skin off her hand revealing shiny, green, scales underneath. </p><p>Anne watched as her hand snapped and elongated the skin falling off her hand and down her arm, bits of her humanity slipping away piece by piece. She felt a familiar swelling in her other hand, shortly after claws burst from that hand as well and the elongation began.</p><p>But Anne couldn’t mentally process anything, the extreme pain and her inability to move rendered her unable to think or feel anything other than the agony of her transforming body.</p><p>Her stomach cramped again, the skin around her torso was itching unbearably, her innards shifting and aching. Anne dug her new claws into the fabric of her nightshirt and tore it right off her body in one swift movement. The itching grew unbearable, her skin was chafing against the newly developing scales beneath, exacerbated by the shifting of her muscles and organs. Without thinking, Anne dug her claws deep into her shoulders and tore the skin off her body. Her skin practically melted right off her shoulders and neck, dripping onto the floor bloodlessly. It continued to unravel down her body, uncovering the same smooth, emerald-green, scales. As the skin around the centre of her chest fell off, a new type of scale was revealed. Long, vertical, lime-green scales that lined her chest and belly. They covered what remained of her breasts, just a curvature on her chest without nipples. What use did a reptile have for mammaries anyway?</p><p>Then a crushing pain erupted from her backside, this time the cracking was coming from the base of her spine. Anne looked behind her, feeling like her back was being crushed by a hydraulic press. </p><p>By this point her legs weren’t just numb, all feeling or connection to them was gone. They sat there limp and were beginning to turn blue from lack of circulation. Just above her bottom, a large bump was forming, it was her spine. Her spine began to inch its way out of her backside, more skin flayed around the area as a scaly stump emerged from her lower back. It continued to grow, getting longer and longer becoming a long, reptilian, tail. Anne could only watch as her tail continued to grow, gaining width and length by the second. The pain from the tail growing eclipsed everything else so far. Even the pain of getting beheaded paled in comparison to the crippling agony from Anne’s pelvis and spine being pushed and expanded to their breaking point by the growing tail. </p><p>Her tail swished around like it had a mind of its own. It was covered on the same emerald green scales on top with the lime green ventral scales on the underside.</p><p>Except it didn’t stop growing, it just kept on getting longer and longer becoming wider and wider, ripping more skin away from her backside. The pain was too much, the tail was too much, its base was eclipsing her entire backside, it was almost as wide as her entire waist. Then her legs, which had lost all circulation and were now purple, fell off her body. Her hip bones had been ejected from their sockets leaving her legs to fall limply to the floor taking the last of the skin on her body with them. </p><p>The open flesh where Anne’s legs used to be was quickly covered up with more scales, her tail enveloping her entire pelvic area. Anne groaned as her upper body contorted and stretched to match her tail. Her ribs were being stretched and compacted, becoming longer and narrower. The rest of her spine stretched out, elongating her waist. Anne’s tail now was her entire lower body, extending directly from her waist and over five meters long. It swished and undulated with newfound energy, her ventral scales gripping the ground, eager to slither forwards. </p><p>Only one piece of Anne’s human skin remained on her entire body. It was on her face, stretching from her upper lip to her hairline. </p><p>And finally, almost on cue, it slipped off. Like a mask, the last piece of her human disguise falling away to reveal the true, reptilian, monster that hid beneath. </p><p>When the last of Anne’s human face fell off, it took the cartilage that made up her nose with it. Her nose was now much flatter with only a subtle curvature to indicate the bridge, her nostrils were now narrow slits, carved into her scaly skin. From just below her eyes, to the edge of her cheeks her facial scales were the same lime green as the scales on her underbelly. </p><p>It was finally over, after what felt like a lifetime of agony the transformation was over.</p><p>Anne just lay sprawled out on her bedroom floor, her giant, serpentine, tail swaying in agitation. Her forked tongue flicked in and out of her mouth tasting the air as her yellow eyes stared, unblinking at the floor below her. </p><p>The pain and trauma of what had just happened left it impossible for her to think or feel anything. She felt empty at this stage, nothing but a bundle of reptilian instincts and fearful nerves.</p><p>To her deepest-held insecurities and self-loathing, the part of her that believed every awful thing that had been said about her, both by those who knew her and by history. She was now in the perfect form. </p><p>Half, feminine seductress, half venomous serpent. </p><p> </p><p>A lamia.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>8:01 pm</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Kitty raced back into the forest tracking Anne’s scent, it smelled of adrenaline and something else…Kitty couldn’t identify it.</p><p>Kitty walked deeper into the forest weaving amongst the bushes and shrubs. She was so lost in her pursuit of Anne’s scent that she automatically switched from bipedal to quadrupedal and didn’t even notice, her arms had grown a bit longer and she could effortlessly creep along the forest floor without any strain.</p><p>As Kitty kept on searching Anne’s scent began to become diluted as all the other smells of the forest began to interfere with her nose. Anne’s scent became mixed with the smells of dirt and moss that punctuated the whole area. Kitty grew frustrated at the mixed messages she was receiving from the environment; her left ear began rapidly twitching in agitation as she scanned the environment.</p><p>She cried out “Anne! Anne where are you!?” her voice echoed through the trees, but there was no sign of her cousin.</p><p>Little did she know that there was something else searching the environment, following a scent. This creature was hungry, following the scent of the young doe in search of what it desired…</p><p>…prey.</p><p>Kitty heard something move above her, she looked up and saw a small owl sitting on an oak branch looking at her with wide yellow eyes. Kitty paused her ears lowering in humility at the curious bird if she had a connection with the creatures of this forest maybe it was better to ask them where Anne was.</p><p>“Uh…have you…seen anyone…around here?” She asked sheepishly</p><p>The owl said nothing, simply raising its head and looking around as if to check the surroundings for anything unusual. The owl then froze, ceasing any head movement, staring at a particular shape looming in the bushes a few meters behind Kitty.</p><p>The owl let out a screech and flapped its wings, Kitty stared at with confusion as it dove off the branch. The owl fluttered around her desperately screeching and motioning towards the way back to the path with its head. Before Kitty could understand what was happening it flew away, the fact that it made such a display was like it was trying to warn her of something.</p><p>Kitty’s ears swivelled to face behind her as she slowly turned her head. The bushes surrounding her were still, standing amongst a large fallen log. The log must’ve been there for a while as it was completely green with moss.</p><p>Kitty sniffed the air and an alarm inside her started going off, something was not right but she couldn’t tell what. What was she smelling? What was the owl afraid of?</p><p>Then her questions were answered when the green log began to slowly move. The movement caused moonlight to reflect on the green surface and Kitty saw that the shiny surface was made of green scales. Kitty felt her fur stand on end and every muscle in her body preparing to move as she realised that it wasn’t a log at all…</p><p>…it was a gigantic, reptilian, tail.</p><p>The moment Kitty put two and two together, she bolted in the direction that the owl had fled too without a second thought. Just as she raced past the oak tree a deafening hiss erupted from behind her as something barrelled into the oak’s trunk, trying to strike her but missing by centimetres. Kitty switched from running on two legs to leaping on all fours, jumping over roots and branches in an attempt to escape the oncoming predator. Kitty’s heart was thundering against her chest, her eyes wide with terror and she galloped across the forest floor, ducking and weaving away from the persistent swings of rapacious claws. But just as it looked like she was about to escape her pursuer, she tripped on a hidden root and landed flat on her face in the dirt. But luck remained on her side for the moment as the creature had been preparing to strike again and not prepared for Kitty’s fall sailed right over her and smacked another tree trunk, hissing and snarling in rage.</p><p>Kitty stunned from both her trip and the near-miss of the creature’s strike looked up and saw the creature hissing and squirming as it readjusted from its collision with the tree. True to what Kitty had expected, the creature resembled a giant, green snake. Its long body unravelling from where it had coiled up from the impact, like a spring extending from being squashed.</p><p>The snake then reared up in preparation to strike again, but before Kitty could start to run again, she gasped in pure shock. Where the snakes head should’ve been was a human torso, a human female torso with long dark hair and outstretched arms tipped with long curved claws. She looked into its face, its yellow eyes wide and almost glowing in the darkness, a forked tongue flicking from its mouth.  But what had shocked Kitty was that she recognised the creatures face…</p><p>…it was Anne.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Centaur's mane</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Sorry about the cliffhanger...let me make it up to you all!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>7:45 pm</strong>
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</p><p>Anna was testing the speed limit as she drove down to the road back to their house, the trip to the pharmacy had taken longer than expected due to heavy traffic and the secluded nature of their residence. Anna looked out the driver’s side window and gazed at the sun, it was sinking over the horizon. Anna pressed her foot just a little harder on the accelerator with this knowledge. Anna felt pretty awful for leaving Kitty alone in such a fragile state, normally she’d be fine with Catalina home, but Lina had been feeling under the weather as well. Anna kept imagining the wide-eyed and frightening look that Kitty had given her once she realised that Anna was leaving, only now Anna understood what a bad move this was. So, Anna raced home to make up for the lost time.</p><p>As she inched closer to her destination Anna began to feel warm, a bit too warm. Not the warmth one feels from being in a warm place but the warmth that comes from within, from muscle or bone and is rarely a good sign. Anna had to ignore it, her friends counted on her, Kitty counted on her. But the warmth only intensified, her body went from warm to hot in the space of minutes. Anna panted as she wiped her forehead, she was damp with sweat. Anna didn’t understand, why was she feeling so hot?</p><p>Suddenly Anna felt her stomach lurch, it was so sudden and painful her whole torso was jolted forwards. Without thought, she slammed her foot on the brakes and swerved onto the side of the road, the tires screeching as the car came to a standstill. Anna gasped desperately for air as she swung open the car door while simultaneously undoing her seatbelt. Anna fell out of the car onto the roadside, groaning and wheezing as aching cramps from just under her skin to the core of her bones intensified. Anna felt a deep ache in her core, it felt like the type of burn caused by doing a hundred sit-ups but happening suddenly and for no reason.</p><p>Anna then felt the muscles in her arms and core start to twitch, her body was shifting. Anna then felt her jacket and shirt start to tighten, feeling her torso with her hands, she could feel her muscles expanding. Anna quickly shed her jacket as her muscles warped and bulged. She looked at the skin on her arms, veiny from the strain of her shifting insides and coated with sweat. But out of her skin was growing tiny hairs, they were a similar colour to her skin, growing all over her skin like a course layer of peach fuzz.</p><p>Before Anna had a chance to internalise this fact, her nose and ears began to tingle and itch. Over the pain and cramping in her lower body Anna could feel her nose and ears shifting, it felt like they were being pushed outwards, her nose slowly becoming wider and her ears growing longer. Anna let out a deep snort, she was taken aback by the sound, it didn’t sound human. Her ears kept on getting pulled and then she felt them pop like she was going through a train tunnel. When her hearing came back it was much clearer and she could hear much more sounds, she could hear every rustling blade of grass in the nearby field. Anna reached up and touched her ears, they were long and felt velvety to the touch.</p><p>Then Anna’s whole torso jolted, Anna cried out in pain as her torso began to expand. Her whole body was getting longer. Anna felt tears spring ton her eyes as her whole body was being altered, Anna had never been stretched on a rack, but this is what she imagined it would feel like. As her whole body was stretched her legs suddenly buckled and snapped. Anna cried out again but this time it came out different. It sounded much more like a horse neighing than a human’s voice. Anna kicked off her shoes as the bones in her legs rapidly broke in many different places only to reform seconds later. Anna looked down at her twisted legs, they no longer resembled human feet, they looked identical to the single-toed hooves of a horse. They kept on getting bigger, white fur growing around her fetlocks. Anna’s eyes were wide with disbelief as her body gradually became more and more equine, her legs now looked indistinguishable from a horse’s hind legs and a dark brushy tail sprouted for her rear.</p><p>With great effort, Anna flipped herself over onto her stomach, which was now a foot longer and getting wider and rounder. Anna felt deep cramping in her abdomen, something was pushing its way out of her skin. Anna looked down and saw a pair of bony bumps appearing in her abdomen, they kept getting bigger and bigger, developing into a second pair of limbs. As Anna’s body kept getting bigger so did the extra limbs, developing into an equally equine pair of hooves. As the new forelimbs gained muscle and strength they began to try and stand, almost independently, acting on pure instinct. At first, this was extremely difficult, her new legs trembling and quaking at trying to hold the combined weight of a human torso and horses’ body. But Anna, now determined to stand up, moved her hind legs to help support the weight. Soon her new front legs were tall enough and sturdy enough to stand up straight. All four of her hooves were now as big as dinner plates, covered by the white ‘feathers’ growing on her legs.</p><p>Anna panted and gasped, regaining her breath. She felt her pointed equine ears swivel, her tail swish with vivacity. She looked down at her hands, her fingers were thicker and her nails dark, like the rest of her body they were covered in a thin layer of course hair. Anna rubbed her face, her face was also fuzzy except her nose which was wide, soft and leathery. Anna looked down at her torso, the red shirt she was wearing was now hugging her muscles framing her abs and biceps. Anna was genuinely impressed, the months of gains she had gotten from the gym had nothing on what had happened to her in the last 12 minutes. She felt so much strength in both her human and horse body, she was big, powerful and she’d never felt more alive.</p><p>Anna’s moment of admiring her Olympian build was interrupted by a loud screeching coming from the air. Anna’s ears automatically swivelled to the source of the sound; her gaze quickly followed. A very distressed owl was flying overhead, it fluttered around her screeching in panic. Anna just stood there in confusion.</p><p>If she hadn’t just grown a horse’s body, this would be the weirdest thing she’d seen that night so far.</p><p>The owl kept trying to get her attention, it was gesturing in a certain direction with frantic movements of its head. Anna saw the creatures fear and she took a step forward. She felt a feeling in her gut that she should listen to the owl. This night was already rounding out to be strange, but this could be a sign of something important.</p><p>Anna gave a self-assured nicker, she was powerful now, whatever was required of her she could handle. She nodded at the owl and the owl flew off, Anna galloped after it through the grassy field towards the looming spectre of the woods. Ready for whatever lied ahead.</p><p> </p><p>
  
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</p><p>
  <strong>8:05 pm</strong>
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</p><p>Kitty was frozen in shock, as her cousin stared her down with yellow, unblinking eyes. Anne’s torso swayed as she inched closer. Kitty could tell she was about to strike again.</p><p>“Anne? Anne don’t! IT’S ME!!!” Kitty gasped trying to stand again but finding herself unable to get a foot…or rather a hoof-hold on the uneven ground.</p><p>But Anne wasn’t listening, she couldn’t even see Kitty properly. Anne had tracked Kitty using not only her sense of smell, but she had heat-sensitive pits on either side of lips, they gave her an infrared view of the environment. In her eyes Kitty had no face, she could only see the red and orange of Kitty’s warm-blooded body against the blues and purples of the forest floor. And the warm blood of the tiny mammal was what she craved, what she hungered for.</p><p>Anne unhinged her jaw and opened her mouth in a fanged gap, forked tongue lashing. The image of Anne’s emotionless face contorting into a nightmarish snarl was forever burned into Kitty’s subconscious as Anne leapt forward at lightning speed. This time Kitty couldn’t move in time before she could even react Anne had coiled around her with her snake-like body and had trapped her. The familiar feeling of being pinned down and helpless by a looming foe caused Kitty’s anxiety to skyrocket even higher, her heart beating as fast as a jackhammer.</p><p>But her entire body went still, out of protective instinct. Anne’s claws were hanging dangerously close over her throat, her venom-laced fangs mere inches away from her face. Any attempt to struggle would be met with a swift end.</p><p>Kitty had no choice but to lie there, trying to stay still as Anne’s grasp on her tightened. If she stayed like this Anne would constrict the life out of her, if she moved, she’d fall victim to fang or claw. Kitty could only stare into her cousin’s eyes, the snake’s eyes were wide and soulless, the slit pupils providing a narrow window into her soul. Despite what little humanity could be seen in this hellish visage, Kitty knew that somewhere deep beneath the green scales her cousin, her friend was still there.</p><p>“Anne…” Kitty whimpered, with what little breath could be mustered as the pressure on her ribs from Anne’s tail kept rising. Anne kept staring her down, without blinking. Softly hissing as she kept hovering her claws over Kitty’s throat as if she was decided where best to let her blood out.</p><p>“Anne please…it’s me…it’s Katherine…I’m your cousin” Kitty pleased again her eyes filling with tears, she’d didn’t think she’d die at the hands of a loved one again, but this somehow was even more painful. She had known for the longest time that Henry was a monster in a human form, but Anne was no monster, she was just trapped in a monster’s body.</p><p>But Kitty had to keep trying, she had no other choice.</p><p>“Annie please…I know you don’t want to hurt me…</p><p>Anne, please…</p><p>…please</p><p>…please</p><p>…please</p><p>…please</p><p>…ple-“</p><p>Kitty was struggling to find the air, her body conserving every breath for survival. But her continued words were starting to resonate in the serpents’ mind.</p><p>Anne blinked for the first time during the encounter, her vision beginning to shift. Her infrared senses temporarily shutting down, seeing again. And she saw that the doe she was planning on killing and eating looked very familiar.</p><p>Anne blinked again and shook her head, her unhinged jaw closing, snapping back into place. Anne’s eyes opened and she looked at Kitty again, this time her eyes weren’t wide and soulless, she instead looked shocked.</p><p>“Katttttthhhhhh” Anne tried to say, the involuntary flicking of her tongue getting in the way of her words.</p><p>But before either could make the next move, a familiar owl flew overhead. Anne snapped her head up as the sound of heavy hooves drew nearer. Then a giant horse-like figure burst through the brush and galloped right up to them. It thundered right by them and Anne felt her torso flying through the air as the creature whacked her with the large branch it was carrying. Kitty seized the opportunity and bolted out of Anne’s hold. She looked up at her saviour. at first, she thought it was a person riding a large horse. But she was shocked to see that horse and rider where one being, a human torso on a horse’s body.</p><p>Yet another creature Kitty thought only existed in myth, a centaur.</p><p>“Get behind me!” the centaur barked, and Kitty recognised the voice. It was from Anna.</p><p>Kitty did as Anna said and jumped behind Anna’s imposing form. Anne had reared up from where she had fallen like an irate cobra. She now looked angry; her thorny brow furrowed in a scowl. A far cry from the cold, emotionless gaze that she had worn from when she had attacked Kitty. But equally as frightening.</p><p>Anna squared up, ready to swing the large branch she was carrying again. Anna let out a loud snort through her nose. Anne hissed her purple tongue lashing. Kitty could only let out a tiny squeak.</p><p>Anne and Anna circled each other, Anne’s tail moved in waves as she prepared to strike, Anna kept her torso facing towards Anne but keeping her body parallel to Anne, providing a barrier between her and Kitty.</p><p>Suddenly Anne darted forwards, crawling on the ground at first and then rocketing upwards to strike. But Anna reared up on her hind legs and kicked with her forelegs. A giant hoof hit Anne square in the head and before she could retaliate Anna swung the branch hitting her in the shoulder, knocking her down. But Anne recovered quickly and slithered around Anna’s side, digging her claws into her flank. The stinging feeling of claws digging into her side caused Anna’s defensive instincts to go into overdrive. She let out a frenzied whinny and began bucking and kicking in panicked rage. Anne had been trying to get a grip on the equine beast so she could sink her teeth into her flesh and let her venom do its work, but Anna’s thrashing shook her off. Finally, Anna aimed her behind directly at Anne, and before Anne could get out of the way Anna gave a mighty kick. Her hind legs hit Anne square in the face and sent her falling to the ground.</p><p>Anne tried to get up again, but she was starting to feel the consequences of the three blows to the head. She was woozy and unable to hold her torso up for long. She tried to hiss again but all that came out was a small spurt of blood. She snapped her jaw back into place and looked at Anna and Kitty with sorrowful eyes. She whimpered, the first human sound that she had made since entering the woods. And then she collapsed onto the ground, out like a light.</p><p>Anna dropped her branch and turned around to look at Kitty, Kitty was still trembling her ears pinned flat against her head in fear. But Anna’s face was warm and friendly, as she bent down to come face to face with her. Kitty looked Anna in the eyes, her pupils looked a lot like hers, rectangular and horizontal, the mark of an ungulate. Anna’s face while still mostly human had noticeable equine features. Her nose was broad and dark with large nostrils, her forehead was decorated by a white diamond mark in her brown fur. The small doe felt nothing but adoration for the mighty mare that had saved her. Her horse body was just like a great bay-coloured draft horse like the kind Kitty had once seen pulling ploughs or carriages with an equally muscular human half to match.</p><p>“Anna…” Kitty asked timidly, still wary of unpredictable behaviour from her transformed friends.</p><p>Anna simply laughed, sounding like a cross between her normal hearty laugh and a horse nickering. “Hello mein liebling” she replied with a warm smile.</p><p>Without hesitation, Kitty embraced Anna burying her head into Anna’s neck, Anna softly reached around Kitty and gave her a gentle hug. “It’s okay mein shatz, I’m here now…and I won’t be leaving this time.”</p><p>Kitty pulled away, her brown eyes wet with tears, Anna wiped away her tears and stroked her large doe ears in the same movement of her hand. Kitty then looked over at the crumpled body of Anne, she broke away from Anna’s hold and trotted over to her fallen cousin.</p><p>“Kätzchen wait…” Anna cautioned, but she knew that Kitty just wanted to help her cousin.</p><p>Kitty put her hand on Anne’s head and turned it to look at her, the reptilian face of her cousin now inspired sadness rather than fear within Kitty. She still looked like Anne, now her jaw was back in its normal position, her snake-like tongue hanging limply from her mouth, red with the regurgitated blood.</p><p>Kitty stroked Anne’s temple, her heart aching at the sight of Anne like this. Both bloodied and beaten, and as a scaled beast. Anna walked over to Kitty and put her hand on Kitty’s shoulder.</p><p>“Kätzchen...be careful…” Anna said wearily.</p><p>Kitty looked up at Anna with wide, sorrowful eyes.</p><p>“She-she’s not a monster…she’s m-my cousin! She wouldn’t want to hurt me! I…I don’t know how this happened!” she stammered between sobs.</p><p>Anna gave Kitty a sympathetic look “I know Kat, I know” she reassured.</p><p>Anna was no fool, she knew that the last thing Anne would want is Kitty to be hurt, the fact that she nearly killed her in a mindless state was proof that whatever Anne had gone through to became this…thing had royally messed with her head.</p><p>Kitty wiped away her tears with the back of her sleeve “We can’t leave her here; we need to help her!”</p><p>Anna nodded and walked over to the base of Anne’s tail, where her waist usually was. She hoisted it up onto her back and with the help of Kitty piled the rest of her tail on. Anna carried Anne’s torso in her arms, almost bridal style except Anne was facing the ground and her head and arms dangled freely in case she woke up and felt like taking a bite out of Anna.</p><p>Anna did feel the weight of this giant reptile, but she walked confidently with Kitty out of the forest.</p><p>Once again, they left the woods and came into the field, the house in view. As they walked up the path, Kitty looked up at Anna.</p><p>“So…what happened to you…and how did you find me?”</p><p>“Oh, I was driving home and then I got really sore, so I stopped the car, then I changed into this…”</p><p>“You’re a centaur, Anna”</p><p>Anna snapped her fingers and pointed at Kitty nodding. “yeah! that’s what I am! I knew I looked familiar I just forgot the name! thank you Kätzchen”</p><p>Kitty gave a small smile, her tail wiggling involuntarily. Anna continued her story.</p><p>“So yeah this is gonna sound weird but, an owl led me to you.”</p><p>Kat's ears perked up “I saw an owl before I found Anne! Well…before she found me. I think because I’m a faun now, I can communicate with animals”</p><p>“Oh, so you’re a faun eh?” Anna said looking Kitty up and down “I must say you’re very cute, little Kitz!”</p><p>“Kitz?” Kitty asked,</p><p>“It means fawn” Anna answered.</p><p>Kitty nodded, a fitting name.</p><p>“Anna if I changed…and you…and Anne, then what about the others?” referring to Jane, Cathy and Catalina.</p><p>Anna nodded “Fair point, I guess we’ll have to wait and see, but first, we need to deal with Anne”</p><p>Anna was right, Anne looked in no way ready to wake up, but they’d have to be ready for when she did.</p><p>“The window to her room is broken so we can’t put her there,” Kitty said, fiddling with her fingers “how about the spare room? There’s only one window and it’s not big enough for her to fit through”</p><p>“Good thinking Kitz,” Anna said, we don’t need to deal with another out of control creature tonight”</p><p>Right as Anna said this, a big ‘<em>NOOOOOOOOO!!!’ </em>echoed through the night, followed by something flying through one of the top floor windows landing at Anna and Kitty’s feet.</p><p>Kitty’s ears and tail drooped</p><p>“not again” she grumbled.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Gargoyle's wing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>I was researching Catalina's mother and she was a hard-ass</p>
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  <strong>8:15 pm </strong>
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</p><p>It had been an hour and a half since Catalina had first felt unwell, she was mostly lethargic and groggy wanting nothing more than to sleep it off. After leaving some instructions for Anna Lina had passed out on her bed and not moved until now. Then for no apparent reason, her eyes snapped open. Lina sat bolt upright gasping for air, she had felt an unexpected jolt through her body which shook her out of her slumber.</p><p>Lina looked around her room, it had been the early stages of dusk when had fallen asleep she remembered the setting sun’s rays colouring her white room a vibrant orange. It was now night-time, and her room was now dark illuminated only but moonlight shining through her tall, glass windows, the wooden frames casting eerie shadows on her carpet. Lina swung her legs around and sat on the edge of her bed gazing at the patterns cast on the floor. It reminded her of before, when she would spend many days in grand cathedrals. She always loved marvelling at the intricate stained-glass windows, whenever the sun was in the right position in the sky the coloured class would cast rainbows on the stone floors. It was magical, it made her feel like a heavenly presence truly walked among them in the house of God.</p><p>Catalina had made many attempts to make this modern world feel more like home, her windows weren’t stained glass, but they were tall and patterned bringing back some old memories.</p><p>Catalina slowly stood up, her body was sore and heavy making her wobble slightly as she took a few steps forwards. She fumbled a hand on her bedside table and flipped the switch of the small lamp that sat there. At the lamps base sat her rosary, Catalina looked down at it her hand travelling from the lamp’s switch to the ornate, hand-carved wooden cross. She linked her fingers through the red beads and picked it up. She raised her hand, letting the cross drop from her fingers swaying in the air.</p><p>Catalina’s relationship with her faith had been tested on more than one occasion, the very circumstances of their continued existence were the biggest test of all. It brought Lina comfort to still have such an integral piece of herself intact. But there were times were Lina wondered if it was genuine if she was just playing along to feel safe. So much of what they thought was true in their past lives turned out to be false, there had been times when Lina wondered if there was anything, she thought she knew was true. Lina wondered if she was just in it for the nostalgia, rather than truly believing.</p><p>Lina took a deep breath and sighed, she put her rosary in her pocket and pulled her phone out of her pocket.  She turned on her screen.</p><p>
  <em>‘2 missed calls from Jane Seymour’</em>
</p><p>Lina and Jane had been close ever since returning to the modern-day. Both relating to historically having their faith suppressed when it didn’t suit the agenda of their spouse. Jane had been an incredible comfort for Catalina, a validating presence whenever she was swarmed with conflict over her beliefs.</p><p>But even Jane had drifted from the faith that she had once had to fight for, now that there was no need to fight for it. She still attended church with Lina but not always, choosing mostly to live her new lift unhindered by concern for greater powers. Lina couldn’t begrudge Jane for that decision, but it still unearthed guilt and fear she had never felt before.</p><p>Lina just switched her phone off and chucked it on the bed, too torn up at that moment to deal with Janes calls. Catalina sat back down on the edge of her bed and placed her head in her hands.</p><p>
  <em>‘And to think it was you, daughter of Isabella I of Castille, the one who remained true to her faith until the end her days”</em>
</p><p>A voice of doubt nagged in her head</p><p>
  <em>‘Now you sit here alone…how pathetic…is this really what’s become of the great Catherine of Aragon?’ </em>
</p><p>Catalina could almost imagine her mother saying that she could envision her look of disapproval and disgust, judging her from beyond the grave.</p><p>
  <em>‘You’ve grown soft…weak…now you have nothing to fight for’</em>
</p><p>Suddenly Catalina’s internal monologue was interrupted by a splitting pain erupting from her scalp.</p><p>Lina clenched her teeth and let out a suppressed scream at the sudden intense ache, it felt her head was being drilled into, outwards rather than inwards. Lina winced and felt around her head, she already knew she was sick, likely having caught whatever Anne had. But there was no warning for whatever head-splitting pain this was.</p><p>Lina continued rubbing her scalp in a weak attempt to dull the pain, she pressed harder in different places trying to locate the source of the pain. She then froze when the fingertips of her left hand pressed against a large bump on the side of her scalp.</p><p>Lina felt around with her right hand and found another bump on the opposite side of her head, something beneath the skin was protruding outwards. As the bumps grew, the pain intensified, Catalina was tempted to scream but all she could muster was a pained wheeze. Then with a sharp crack, one of the bumps slip open. Lina felt the protrusion with her fingers, it was hard and pointy. With another crack, the opposing bump burst as well.</p><p>Lina’s face became drenched in sweat as her heart rate began to accelerate, panic eating away at her stomach. She felt the points grow bigger and longer, forcing themselves out of her skull. Lina hoped they weren’t what she thought they were, as she raced over to her vanity and looked into the mirror that sat upon it. There, poking out of the sides of her head and getting longer, were horns.</p><p>“Horns!?” She gasped, brushing one with her hand “Has God forsaken me?”</p><p>“Am I being claimed by the Devil? No…No this can’t be!” she stammered holding her head in her hands as the horns grew long and began to curve outwards.</p><p>Lina then groaned clutching her stomach as her chest began to ache and her stomach felt queasy. She looked down at her hands, her skin was dry and flaky, but on closer inspection, it was going from brown to grey. Lina felt tears spring to her eyes if she had known this was the price she’d pay for losing sight of her faith she’d have never questioned anything.  </p><p>As her hands grew numb and sore, she dug into her pants pocket and fished out her rosary. Clutching the beads in a vice grip she fell to her knees, both from the need to pray and the excruciating pain. Lina pressed her clenched hands against her forehead and her skin and flesh kept morphing, becoming greyer and rougher.</p><p>“O Lord…Jesus Christ…” she groaned through gritted teeth, the pain forcing air from her lungs.</p><p>“…please I am being corrupted by sin…the Devil is taking me…please don’t let me go…Plea-”</p><p>Her prayer was interrupted by a loud cracking coming from her fingers, this time she did cry out in pain. She lowered her hands, her rosary still hanging from her fingers. The middle and ring fingers on both of her hands had merged, her four slender fingers become three thick fingers that were still cracking and shifting. And after constricting for a few seconds suddenly from her fingertips burst long, cruel talons. They were dark in colour and curved like a bird of prey’s, with serration on the inner edges for inflicting lethal wounds.</p><p>All Lina could do was watch in terror as her hand’s changed, the muscle on her arms began expanding, matching her beastly, clawed hands in size and strength. Lina groaned in pain as her arms lengthened and torso expanded as more muscle grew and her bones lengthened. Her entire body was shifting, becoming more powerful and less feminine, her core and legs ached as they grew in strength, matching the muscle power of a predatory animal, rather than a human.</p><p>Lina fell onto her chest as the pain grew too much, she felt more tears fall from her eyes. This couldn’t be happening, she wasn’t some animal and she certainly wasn’t a monster, but her body kept on proving her wrong with its continuous changes. The changes reached her legs which were being re-lengthened, her shin bone shrinking and her feet expanding. Lina looked behind her and saw her feet becoming taller, they now more closely resembled the bent legs of a four-legged mammal, structured to stand on her toes. Her toes had also merged into three grasping talons, her big toes shrinking into dewclaws, looking like a frightful combination of the legs of a bird and a dog.</p><p>Lina tried to scream again but the sound that came out sounded more like a growl than any human scream. She clenched her rosary in her taloned hands and continued her prayer, though she feared it may be too late.</p><p>“P-Please forgive me…” she pleaded between growls.</p><p>“What have I done to deserve to deserve this?” Suddenly a sharp pain ripped through her body as a tail burst from her pants. It kept on growing, long and tapered at the end like a reptile’s tail. As it kept on growing a bone-like structure appeared on the end, a pointed arrowhead-shaped blade. As it reached its full length, which was just over a meter, Lina saw it and her heart sank even more for it was nothing short of demonic.</p><p>“Please...” she begged as a final change began stirring in her back, a mountain of pressure was building from her shoulder blades. Like with her horns but even greater. Lina already had a feeling of what this new sensation was, but she kept on praying.</p><p>“Please…rrr” She growled as the pressure kept on building, the snapped of bones and shifting of muscles echoing through the empty room.</p><p>“Please don’t let me be taken by rrrrrrrROOOOOOAAAAAR!!!” she roared with inhuman ferocity, like a lion crossed with a dragon as two limbs burst from her back, shredding her shirt. The limbs had long thin fingers which stretched and grew becoming longer and thinner. The fingers were held together with a leathery membrane. As the fingers lengthened the membrane stretched and the limbs became two great wings, like a giant bat.</p><p>Gasping and panting Lina opened her eyes, with the pain gone she could focus on her senses. Her vision was much clearer and brighter, she couldn’t even tell it was nighttime everything just seemed so well lit. She could feel her ears, she could move and swivel them, her hearing was incredibly sharp, sharp enough to hear a pin drop.</p><p>In silence Lina slowly stood up and looked in the mirror, she was immediately hit with shock and disgust stronger than she had ever felt before in either of her lives. In her eyes, her face was nothing short of grotesque, an unholy combination of human and animal. Despite the structure being overall human, her nose and lips looked lion-like with a dark triangular nose and broad features. In her gaping open mouth, she could see long sharp fangs that were also reminiscent of a big cat. Her face was framed by her ears and horns, her ears were now huge and bat-like and drooping from the horrid sight. Her horns had grown into large, curved horns like a goat, appropriate for a form that would suit the Devil himself. But what shook Lina the most was her eyes, bright yellow and glowing like embers, pupil-less, soulless.</p><p>Lina placed a clawed hand on the glass, this couldn’t be real, this had to be a nightmare. But she could feel everything, the movement of her tail, her wings, ears the feeling of being stronger and structured more like a humanoid beast. Lina grabbed the sides of her head, feeling the hard, stone-like roughness of her skin. This was no nightmare, this had to be some type of punishment for falling so far from grace, for forgetting where she came from. She had strayed from her faith, and now she had been deemed unworthy of her humanity, given a form worthy of Hell.</p><p>“No…” Lina whispered, unable to bear the sight of her beastly appearance, she didn’t want to believe the monster in the mirror was her, but it was.</p><p>She couldn’t take it anymore; she felt a surge of primal wrath overtake her causing her to bare her fangs in a beastly snarl.</p><p><em>“NOOOOOOOOO!!!”</em> She screamed in a violent rage, punctuated another thunderous roar. Without thought she grabbed the mirror and threw it out the window, her eyes burning with fury.</p><p>It was that mirror that fell at the feet of Kitty and Anna as the made their way back to the house. The pair walked over to the fallen mirror and stared at it, then back up at the window it had fallen out of. The sounds of roaring and growling were echoing out of the broken window as did the sounds of things being thrown around the room.</p><p>“I uh…think Lina just changed too,” Anna said quietly.</p><p>Kitty said nothing, the sounds of growling and roaring were stirring her deer instincts back up. She could already feel her muscles tense and nerves surge in preparation to flee from an oncoming threat. But she slapped herself mentally, Lina was no different than the rest of them and she wasn’t going to be afraid of her friend. Despite the knowledge that the danger is very real, as Anne can attest.</p><p>“Do you think it’s safe to go inside?” Kitty asked, but before Anna could answer the sound of a door slamming was heard from Lina’s room and then silence.</p><p>“Now it is” Anna replied walking over to the glass doors of the living room. Kitty followed hesitantly, keeping an eye on Anne who was showing signs of stirring.</p><p>The pair of ungulates entered the living room, Anna having to duck considerably to get under the doorframes. Kitty turned the living room light on and walked over to the stairwell to see any sign of Lina.</p><p>The door to her frame was hanging limply on one of its hinges, chaos and destruction that could only be caused by a combination of primal rage and extreme strength formed a trail up to the attic. Kitty felt her ears flatten in fear, she decided it was best to trust her instincts and not pursue the matter further.</p><p>Kitty returned to the living room and sat down on the couch, Anna entered from the side door and walked over to Kitty.</p><p>“I’ve locked Anne in the spare room, but to make sure she’s placated when she wakes up, we’re gonna have to feed her”</p><p>Kitty looked up at Anna, her ears perking “I think there’s a ham or something in the fridge out in the shed, I’ll get it”</p><p>“Why do we have a ham? I don’t remember getting that” Anna asked</p><p>“It was supposed to be for Sunday or something, but I think we can make sacrifices” Kitty sighed, walking to the shed where the extra fridge was “besides the last thing I want to eat right now is meat”</p><p>Anna nodded “I know how you feel Kitz, we can both get used to being vegetarian I suppose”</p><p>Anna walked over to the thermostat and turned it on, it had gotten significantly colder since night had begun to fall. Anna walked over to the stacking doors to close the curtains in order to preserve heat, she peered out the windows and saw the winds were starting to pick up.</p><p>“It’s a good thing we came back now, I think it’s going to be a cold night”</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Yeti's horn</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>9:05 pm</strong>
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</p><p>As the hour passed from when Anna Kitty and Anne had returned to the house, the weather went from cold and windy to freezing. It wasn’t long before Anna looked outside to see snow falling on the grass, covering the landscape with a white blanket. Anna had made sure all the doors in the house where shut in order to preserve heat, Kitty had returned with the ham and some pieces of cardboard for covering any broken windows. Anna was just lighting the fireplace when Kitty came back into the living room.</p><p>“It’s funny, I don’t feel as cold as I should, because of all this fur,” Kitty said placing the cardboard on the dining table so she could hold the ham in both her hands.</p><p>Anna nodded, standing up from her knelt position on her forelegs. “Yeah, I think having a much greater body size helps me stay warm.”</p><p>Kitty looked out the windows as she made her way to the spare room “it’s snowing hard out there do you think Cathy and Jane will be alright coming home?”</p><p>Anna’s ears perked up, after all the strangeness that had happened that night she had completely forgotten about Jane and Cathy and the fact they were supposed to be returning home tonight.</p><p>“Let’s just hope that they don’t have as many problems as we have Kitz”</p><p>Kitty nodded in acknowledgement and left the room in quiet melancholy. There wasn’t anything they could do but wait at this stage. Kitty could only wonder what Jane and Cathy were going to turn into.</p><p> </p><p> ⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓⁓</p><p> </p><p>The snow was piling high by the time Jane and Cathy were nearing the end of their journey, driving along a quiet country road that led to their property. It was dark and the wind was howling as it battered the Queen’s car as they trekked on through the cold. Cathy was driving while Jane was in the passenger’s seat looking out the window.</p><p>“I think we’ve driven into a blizzard Cathy,” Jane said nervously.</p><p>“It’ll be fine, this car has got four-wheel-drive” Cathy replied quickly, needing to keep her focus on the road rather than Jane.</p><p>Jane kept looking out at the landscape, once black with night becoming white with snow. Jane was tempted to bring up that the car didn’t have chained tires or spikes but chose not to, decided to let Cathy stay focused on driving.</p><p>The lights of the car illuminated the road ahead of them, but despite being on the brightest setting the lights seemed dimmer than they were supposed to be. Jane looked at the lit area in front of the car, she couldn’t tell if it was just the road or her eyes playing tricks, but the lights seemed to be flickering.</p><p>Jane wondered if she should tell Cathy, but she decided that she would rather not break Cathy’s focus again. As they travelled up the road Jane saw something in the near distance, as they grew closer Jane saw it was a car parked on the side of the road.</p><p>“Who would be parked on the side of the road on a night like this?” Jane thought the car must’ve broken down. Before Jane could ask Cathy to stop in case the person in the car needed help, she recognised the car and on closer inspection the number plate.</p><p>It was Anna’s car.</p><p>“Cathy!” Jane said alarmed. But Cathy saw the car as well and slammed the brakes. They screeched to a halt, parked a meter behind Anna’s car. Jane got out of the car and shuffled as fast as she could without risking on the icy road. Cathy got out too and followed over to the car which was illuminated by their car’s headlights. Except the lights kept blinking for some reason.</p><p>Jane had walked over to the driver’s side door, which was wide open. Jane saw something lying on the ground by the open door, she crouched down to pick it up. It was Anna’s phone. Cathy caught up to Jane and looked down at the phone apprehensively.</p><p>“Is that…” Cathy started to ask. “Yes,” Jane added.</p><p>“Oh shit, that explains why she wasn’t answering our calls,” Cathy said taking the phone and putting it in her jacket pocket, zipping it up. Jane had an unfortunate habit of forgetting where she put things, so it was normal for her to surrender any findings to any of the more organized Queens. Jane looked in the car, searching for a sign of anything, any reason that Anna had abandoned the car.</p><p>“The car doesn’t look broken or anything? Jane queried, “why did Anna abandon the car?”</p><p>“I don’t know Jane,” Cathy said, exasperated “but this explains why she hasn’t been answering our calls”</p><p>Cathy walked over to the car door and took the keys out of the ignition, she then shut the door and locked it.</p><p>“It’ll be too dangerous to drive this car through the cold, so we’ll come back later and get it then” Cathy explained making her way back to their car. Jane just looked at the car, looked back, nodded, and followed Cathy back to the car.</p><p>Both Jane and Cathy returned to their car, Cathy got in the drivers-side Jane the passenger. They both sat in silence for a few seconds before looking to each other unsure of what to do. “I think I’ll try giving them a call,” Jane said, pulling out her phone, but after a few seconds, her face sank in disappointment. “No reception,” she grumbled.</p><p>“Let's just get back home, they might be waiting for us,” Cathy said, turning the key in the ignition, the car stuttered for a few seconds but didn’t start instead just petering out. Both Jane and Cathy sat there, eyes wide. Jane was confused and Cathy both shocked and irritated “are you fucking kidding me?” Cathy snapped trying the key again, only to yield the same results. </p><p>Jane out of curiosity tried the heater, nothing happened. She then tried the radio, then the air conditioning, the lights, the windshield wipers. Once again, nothing happened, not a flicker of life. “Uh, Cathy?” Jane said quietly, turning to the frustrated Cathy who paused from banging the dashboard with her fists, “I think there’s something wrong with the battery.”</p><p>Cathy looked ahead for a few seconds before undoing her seatbelt. “I’ll see what’s wrong with it” Cathy opened her door and tried to get out but at this point, the snowy weather had escalated into a blizzard. Cathy couldn’t even put her foot on the ground before being knocked around by the howling winds, receiving a face full of wind-driven snow. Cathy quickly got back in the car and had to struggle to slam the door shut with the wind acting against her. When she got the door shut her face and chest were covered in snowflakes. Jane stared at Cathy </p><p>“How did the weather get so rough so quickly?!” Jane asked as she helped dust Cathy off. “I’m not sure, but I don’t think this is our lucky night Jane”</p><p>True to Cathy’s word night was indeed falling and with it the temperature. And to make matters worse, when Cathy opened the door had let a lot of cold air in and most of the warm air out. The pair both felt the cold and Jane especially was not thrilled to feel it. She felt her teeth start to chatter as her body started to shake. Cathy who was also shivering placed a reassuring hand on Jane’s shoulder “d-don’t worry Jane, w-we’ll b-be fine” but it wasn’t just the cold that was spiking Jane’s nerves.</p><p>It was what the cold was triggering within her.</p><p>Jane felt a tension within her lower jaw. At first, she felt like it was getting sore from the chattering, but it was deeper than that, it felt like it was…stretching.</p><p>Suddenly Jane lurched forward in her seat as she felt an intense wave of nausea hit her. She felt it down to her stomach like she was going to throw up, but she didn’t. Jane groaned in pain, sweat lining her forehead as she felt her body heaving. She scrunched her eyes as tight as she could before snapping them back open when she felt it. It wasn’t in her head, her jaw was stretching, getting pulled outwards from her skull.</p><p>Cathy, who had heard Jane’s pained gasps, was looking at her in confusion and concern. “Jane, are you okay?” she asked. Jane wasn’t listening, she was too busy putting her finger inside her mouth feeling her teeth. She tasted the distinct metallic taste of blood in her mouth, some of it dripping from her gums down her chin. This caused Cathy to go from concerned to very worried “Jane…Jane what’s wrong?” Once again Jane didn’t answer, she felt around in her mouth and her finger landed on a tooth. A tooth she didn’t know she had, it felt sharper than any of her other teeth she had felt before and it was slowly but surely edging its way upwards from her gums.</p><p>Jane felt her heart skip a beat at the realisation, but she had no time to process this as the very hand she was using to feel her shifting jaw was beginning to tense up as well. She slowly removed her shaking hand from her face and looked down at it. Her entire arm was swollen like it had been injured or inflamed, it was deep red, and she could make out veins popping through her skin. </p><p>Suddenly a bone in one of her hands snapped with an audible pop. Jane winced in pain as more snapping followed, her entire hand was stretching forward like her jaw, being pulled forward and re-shaped. It was slow but she could see it happening. Jane was sweating harder than she had in a long time, possibly since the agony of childbirth that had led her to her death. </p><p>She gasped for air letting a fair amount of blood spill from her jaw onto her lap. Her heartbeat was banging in her head, eclipsing the sound of the howling wind or even Cathy who was demanding to know what was wrong.</p><p> Jane just glanced into the overview mirror and saw her swollen malformed jaw, just poking out from her lips were her new upwards pointing canine teeth, sticking out from her lower jaw like tusks. Jane lurched again partially as another wave of nausea hit her, partially out of disgust. Her face didn’t look human, her teeth seemed…beastlike.</p><p>She then felt a stinging, itching sensation on the back of her growing hand. She turned it over and saw it. Out of the redness of her skin, dozens, then hundreds of tiny see-through hairs were sprouting. Jane wanted to scream but between her desperately gasping for air and being unable to vocalise anything with her malformed jaw, she could only wheeze in agony and terror. The hairs continued growing on her hand, going from see-through to a pale, cream colour. </p><p>Then Cathy’s hand grabbed her shoulder as she screamed “Jane! What’s going on!?” This set of a race of nerves in Jane that combined with the horror of her transformation led her panicking. In her blind panic, she wrenched open the passenger door, ripped off her seatbelt and staggered out into the cold. Cathy screamed her name reaching out for her, but Jane continued to wade into the snow. Jane got a few metres away from the car before doubling over and collapsing onto her hands and knees, the pain leaving her unable to move. Cathy crawling out her seat followed Jane out of the passenger’s door and took a few steps towards Jane, being pushed around by the wind. </p><p>Cathy screamed as loud as she could over the wind “Jane! What’s happening? Why can’t you just tell me what’s wrong!?” </p><p>Jane felt tears run down her face as her fears kept coming true. Her teeth had fully grown from her jaws and were now a set of sharp, tusk-like fangs. Her hand was now covered in a layer of snow-white fur, except her palms and the underside of her fingers where the skin was becoming thicker and darker. </p><p>As the fur reached her fingertips her fingernails cracked and fell out of her hands. Jane looked at the bleeding nail beds through her tears to see sharp claws pierce through and grow out of her hand. It wasn’t even a hand anymore; it was a paw. A hairy paw with dark pads covering the whole underside of her hand with hooked, inch-long claws. Jane looked at her other hand, it was already going through the same thing, red and swollen with fur already growing on the back. Jane realised seeing that she didn’t just look beastlike…she was becoming a beast.</p><p>Jane heard the crunching of snow as Cathy approached her “Th-tay away th-rom me Cath..” Jane spat, unable to speak properly with her new fangs crowding her mouth. “Jane, what’s wrong with you?” Cathy shouted taking another step forward. Jane’s whole body was on fire, her chest and torso were now swelling. She breathed deeply her lungs expanding in size with each breath. Cathy took another step forward. </p><p>The moment Jane heard the snow crunch she was overtaken by a sudden flash of rage. “I th-aid STAY AWAY!!!” Jane yelled as she whipped around to face Cathy. Her voice was at a volume louder than any human should be capable of making accompanied by a deep, inhuman-sounding growl. </p><p>Cathy’s eyes bulged to the size of dinner plates and she screamed stumbling backwards when she saw Jane. Not only was she caught off guard by the loudness of the growl, but she could see her friend had grown giant, dripping fangs which she had bared in a snarl and her hands had turned into giant hulking white paws.</p><p>Jane’s snarl quickly faded as she saw Cathy scream in fear at her beastly appearance. “Cathy…I- I’m sorry…” as more tears fell down her face. But before she could say anything more, her skull was split by the most intense white-hot pain she had ever felt in her life. This time Jane did scream as she fell to her knees in pain clutching her head with her giant paws. But it didn’t sound like a scream, she bellowed deep and harshly with another growl. It didn’t sound human at all, it sounded like a mixture of a heaving bull and lions’ roar.</p><p>The pain in Jane’s skull reached its peak when her head split in two places on either side. Out of the bleeding openings, two bony growths appeared out of the wounds and began pushing their way out. </p><p>The growths grew just above her ears which were also changing shape, lengthening into short, droopy, round ears like a cow but shorter and rounder. When Jane felt the growths pushing out of her head, she already knew what they were, horns.</p><p> Jane felt more tears fall both from pain and the horror of what was happening to her. But at this point she was resigned to her fate, she already knew she was becoming a beast, all she could do was let the transformation run its course. She looked back at Cathy who was standing frozen in fear, tears were also running down Cathy’s face. Jane could only hope that being a beast wouldn’t lead her to hurt Cathy.</p><p>Jane bellowed again as her horns grew curved and rounded like a ram’s. At this point Jane's torso had swollen so much her ribcage snapped and pushed outwards. Jane’s winter coat was feeling more like a straitjacket, growing ever tighter around her body. She dug her claws into the thick fabric of the coat and ripped it right off her body like it was made of wet tissue paper. </p><p>The fur from her paws had spread up her arms which were bulging in size. Without the constriction of the jacket, her body kept growing, her arms and torso gaining muscle by the second. The bones in her arms snapped and reformed becoming longer and larger before Jane could even process the pain of her breaking bones. The growth spread down to her legs and feet as her jeans began to rip at the seams, more white fur spilling from the tears. Jane heaved and gasped for air, her breaths sounding more like the braying of a horse than a human. </p><p>Slowly she rose from where she had fallen on her hands and knees, she wasn’t even sure why she just felt like she had to. She lifted her left paw and dropped it back down on the ground, propping herself up on her knuckles like a gorilla. </p><p>Her legs were quickly catching up the rest of her body in terms of growth, they had already demolished her jeans by bursting them from the inside out. They finally gave way from her body when a short bushy tail burst from her backside. Her boots also burst from the inside as her feet expanded into giant paws, like a bear, large and flat for walking over snow.</p><p>Jane raised her right arm and propped herself up on her right paw’s knuckles holding herself higher. She placed her hind paws firmly in the snow and hoisted herself even more. She had grown over three sizes as big as it was before, her body was heavy. But she had enough muscle and thick enough bones to hold herself up. </p><p>She groaned again as her neck pushed outwards, it had become as thick as a bull’s to hold up her giant horned head. Her regular, human hair had also grown thicker, going from blonde to a pale cream colour extending down to the middle of her back becoming a giant bushy mane. All that remained was her face, it had already been pushed out but now it was pushing out a bit farther into a short, round, muzzle. </p><p>Jane roared as her skull cracked and jutted forwards, allowing her extended lower jaw to open much wider than ever before. Her mouth no longer felt so crowded with her fangs now her face was adjusting to their size. Her nose flattened and widened into a broad, wide shape her nostrils becoming V-shaped the skin around them darkening. Finally, her face was overtaken with fur, growing white over her skin leaving the dark, wet patch at the end of her nose and growing black on the tips of her ears.</p><p>Finally, it was over. The new beast, still heaving from exhaustion was complete.</p><p>Cathy had been frozen in shock unable to move or tear her eyes away from the gruesome sight. She couldn’t do anything but watch Jane, her friend, howl in agony becoming less and less human by the minute as she heard the sickening cracks of bone and shifting of muscle. </p><p>Now Jane was standing on all fours, completely naked in the snow heaving and braying in the body of a creature that looked like many different animals at once. Her mane blew in the wind making her appear even larger than she already was, a rumbling growl coming from her throat as she began to open her eyes.</p><p>Cathy wanted to run, she didn’t know if she was safe, this creature looked almost nothing like Jane, so how was Cathy to know that Jane's mind hadn’t changed just as much. But Cathy couldn’t move, her hands and feet had become numb with the cold. Her skin covered in goosebumps warmed only by a mixture of tears and snot running down her face. Her teeth chattered in both fear and cold as she locked eyes with the beast formerly known as Jane.</p><p>“J-Jane?” Cathy whispered her voice failing her. Jane said nothing, looking at her with an unreadable facial expression. </p><p>Then Jane leant down on her paws and quickly pushed up off her knuckles and began to stand. Cathy felt her stomach sink with terror, Jane was already huge but now she was towering over Cathy like a mountain, she must’ve been over eight feet tall. Watching this Goliath of a beast stand up proved to be too much for Cathy. Falling backwards, she fainted.</p><p>But just before Cathy could hit the ground, Jane lunged forwards landing back on her knuckles this time over Cathy, catching her in her right paw.</p><p> Jane hadn’t been in the state of mind to think straight once she finished transforming. She had barely had time to catch her breath and fully comprehend that she wasn’t herself anymore. Nothing felt the same, her body was heavy and solid, she could feel things she had never felt before. Her ears could move and hear so much clearer over the howling wind, when she took a breath through her nose, she could smell everything. The car, the surrounding woods, Cathy. That’s when she remembered…Cathy. </p><p>She opened her eyes and Cathy was standing in the same spot, frozen in fear. For some reason Jane upon seeing Cathy standing upright was hit with a realisation, an instinct ‘I can stand upright too’ she just knew it. So, Jane did, and she realised how huge she truly was now, Cathy looked like a child standing below her looking even more terrified. </p><p>Before Jane could understand that appearing her largest would not in any way ease Cathy’s nerves, Cathy fainted. Jane realising her mistake rushed forwards to grab her, but it was too late. Cathy was out like a light.</p><p>Jane leaned over Cathy cradling her in her huge paws, she opened her mouth and brayed slightly but she had to find her words. Jane growled in frustration trying to navigate her new lips and giant teeth. It didn’t matter if she was no longer human, she had to regain her power of speech.</p><p>“Ath…C-Cath…Cathy” Jane managed to say, she felt relieved once she uttered Cathy’s name, at least she wasn’t without her voice. Her voice did still sound somewhat familiar, but it was much deeper and slightly harsher. Jane probably wouldn’t be singing on stage anytime soon but her giant lungs could come in handy for belting.   </p><p>“Cathy…wake up,” Jane said softly, no response. The look of terror on Cathy’s face still haunted Jane, how terrifying did she look?</p><p> Holding Cathy to her chest with both paws she stood back up and walked over to the car, which now came up to her lower chest. She squeezed her eyes shut and bent over, hovering right in front of the side mirror. Then she opened them.</p><p>Jane’s eyes took a second to focus but she was greeted by the visage of a furry white beast. Jane was stunned, she had feared for the worst but what she saw wasn’t hideous or scary. She looked like…well…an animal, a bizarre animal but an animal, nonetheless. An animal with the gentleness of sheep, the power of a buffalo and even the majesty of a lion. Except for one thing, her eyes. They were still the same, larger to fit her giant skull undeniably but still the same bluey-grey eyes she had as a human.</p><p>Jane stroked the thick soft fur on her cheeks with her claws and rubbed her soft round ears between her fingertips. It was all so strange yet fascinating. Jane was confused at herself, she should be horrified at the mere idea of becoming a giant hairy creature with horns and having to walk around on her knuckles like an ape, and at first, she was but now that the suffering of the transformation was over, it wasn’t so bad.</p><p>Jane fell forwards suddenly and as she steadied herself she realised she had her right paw on the car and had accidentally pushed the car up and almost tipped it over. Jane was stunned, was she that powerful? She put her right paw back on the car and pushed. Surely enough the whole car tipped backwards, the wheels on the side of Jane lifting right off the ground. Jane was astounded, it didn’t even feel heavy to her. </p><p>But after a few seconds Jane felt movement in her left arm, she looked down to see Cathy groaning and squirming in discomfort, still unconscious. Jane let the car go and it landed back on its wheels with a bang as she tended to Cathy. </p><p>“Cathy? Oh, Cathy, I’m so sorry…” Jane murmured holding Cathy firmly in both her arms, being careful to not grasp her too hard. Cathy was shaking, wet and pale from the cold, her eyes squeezed tight and her teeth chattering. Jane cursed herself out mentally for mucking about when Cathy was freezing in her arms. There was no time to waste, Jane had to get her back home. But how…</p><p>Jane looked at Cathy, looked at the car, looked around her and then it hit her. She started changing when it got too cold, the form she was in was one clearly suited for icy temperatures. Not only was her fur white but it was thick, double-layered even. And despite being completely naked she didn’t feel chilly at all. “With this new body…” Jane thought out loud “I can make it home myself” </p><p>So, with newfound determination, Jane placed her left fist on the ground getting into a quadruped stance, holding Cathy firmly in her right arm and pounced. </p><p>She raced as fast as she could through the snow, literally grabbing the ground with her claws and pulling herself forwards, using both her hind legs to jump forwards simultaneously. She rocketed across the icy fields as the speed of a racehorse. It was hard to see through the blizzard, but Jane knew the area well enough, using her acute hearing and sense of smell she navigated through the snowy landscape. As she bounded through the icy weather, she whispered to Cathy between breaths </p><p>“Don’t worry Cathy, we’ll be fine”</p><p>
  <br/>
  <br/>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Sphinx's claw</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>And finally Cathy</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>9:47 pm</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Kitty had gone against every sensible instinct she had and ventured further up the stairs to Lina’s room. The door was still swinging on a singular hinge, the power of what had hit it still reminiscent in its movement. The wood had a large gash in it, flakes of sawdust and wood chips lying around from the impact.</p><p>Kitty looked in Lina’s room, it looked like a tornado hit. Her furniture had been smashed, bedsheets and curtains were in ripped tatters, things were strewn about wherever Lina had thrown them. And the cold blizzard air was circulating within the room, entering through the shattered window. Kitty’s nerves began to rise as she inhaled the scent of the room, there was the scent of something dangerous marked on the walls and in the air. Kitty recognized the scent of a predator, but it also smelled like…concrete? Kitty just pushed it all back and taped the cardboard over the shattered window, despite the warning signs she wasn’t going to let Lina’s room get drafty. And neither would Anne’s room. </p><p>Kitty really didn’t want to go back into Anne’s room. There was still a distinct reptilian scent that lingered around the room, the fainted whiff of it caused Kitty’s mind to spiral back the attack in woods. The image of the dripping fangs and the writhing tail constricting her body was all to clear in her mind, it made her fur stand on end and her ears twitch and move at even the tiniest sound. Kitty gulped as she opened the door.</p><p>Surprisingly Anne’s room wasn’t looking as bad as it did before, the loose skin and even Anne’s disembodied legs had turned to a flakey powder, but the stench of dried blood was still strong. Kitty gingerly walked across the stained carpet and taped the cardboard to the broken window, the ‘fight or flight’ instinct was growing stronger within her, but mostly the ‘flight’ part.</p><p>Kitty left the room as quickly as possible after securing the window, she didn’t want to think about Anne or anything like that. She had already braved the spare room to leave the ham for Anne to eat. Kitty didn’t know if the serpent’s hunger would be quelled by such a meagre offering, but at least Anne wouldn’t be hungry for venison anymore.</p><p>Kitty scurried back down the stairs to find Anna relaxing on the carpet leaning on the couch behind her with her arms, basking in the heat of the fireplace. </p><p>“I thought horses slept standing up?” Kitty asked, trotting over to the couch. As Anna was resting on her horse stomach, her legs tucked her body.</p><p>“I’m pretty sure horses only rest standing up, and besides I don’t want to stand up, so I won’t” Anna replied patting the couch. </p><p>Kitty jumped onto the couch where Anna patted and folded her hooved legs. She felt miles safer in the presence of Anne, the centaur’s smell was warm and comforting and it made Kitty feel secure. But her fur was still fluffed up, both from the cold and her overactive nerves.</p><p>Kitty snuffed in frustration “This is exhausting Anna,” she moaned. “What specifically Kitz?” Anna asked, reaching a hand to Kitty’s head and rubbing her ear with her thumb. Kitty leaned into the affectionate touch “Just the fear and nerves that this form gives me, every damn muscle is geared to run all the damn time.”</p><p>Anna said nothing, she just nodded sympathetically. Kitty let herself fall back onto the couch, rubbing her forehead with her fingertips. </p><p>“I just want this nightmare of a day to be over already…” she sighed.  </p><p>Suddenly, a thump came for the front door. </p><p>Kitty spun around in her seat to face the entrance hall, Anna started to stand up, both of them had their ears facing the source of the sound. </p><p>The door thumped again, then the sound of someone or something fumbling with the doorknob clattered through the hallway. Kitty and Anna exchanged glances in confusion, then the front door swung open. A gust of snowy wind blew through the doorway as the door swung wildly open, something large and white was jammed against the doorframe from the outside.</p><p>Suddenly a giant white paw flopped onto the entrance carpet, it felt around the space as a deep rumbling sound came from the outside. Kitty felt her urge to flee build-up, but she had nowhere to run. She placed a hand on Anna’s flank for security as the large white creature fumbled at the entrance. After a few minutes of trying the paw dragged a huge, white, fluffy body through the door, Kitty could make out a head amongst the fur, it had long curved horns like a ram and a flat black nose. The creature huffed as it dragged itself in sideways, unable to fit through the doorframe with its massive size. Then Kitty and Anna gasped when they saw what the creature was holding in its arm, a limp, unconscious Cathy. </p><p>Kitty hopped over the couch and took a few cautious steps over to the creature, Anna followed prepared to get physical if necessary. The creature propped itself upon its free paw and shook the loose snow off like a dog shaking off water. Finally, the pair got a good look at the face of the creature, it had a sheep-like head with large upwards-pointing tusks and thick brows. But there was no mistaking those ice-blue eyes. </p><p>“Jane!” Anna gasped, trotting over to their recently transformed friend. Jane huffed and puffed, keeping Cathy’s face, facing upwards. “Couldn’t fit through the doorframe” she grumbled, wiping the excess snow off her forehead. She then looked up and paused, realizing that Kitty and Anna were in a similarly inhuman state. She should’ve known something was up when she made that whole scene entering and didn’t elicit that much of a reaction from them.</p><p>“Uh so…you guys too huh?” Jane noted, gesturing with a nod of her head. </p><p>“We can worry about that later, what’s up with Cathy?” Anna said, walking over to Jane. </p><p>Anna held out her arms in a carrying motion. Jane, needing to use both her arms to support her weight gave Cathy over to Anna without protest. “We were driving home, but the battery failed on us, and then I turned into…this thing…and then Cathy fainted when she saw me,” Jane said nonchalantly. </p><p>“Seems like an overreaction…” Anna smirked, holding Cathy bridal style. “…For a giant fluffball, you look quite pleasant!” Jane grinned, and preened her mane with one of her paws, her dark claws running through her dense cream fur. </p><p>“Hey, where’s Lina?” Jane asked, looking left to right. Anna and Kitty exchanged glances again, Kitty ran a hand through her hair. </p><p>"Lina...did not take her transformation well...she destroyed a good chunk of her room" Kitty explained, the lingering fear of the destruction still alive in her veins. </p><p>Jane nodded, her tusks were shifted in a position slightly as her expression became both understanding and concerned. Her rounded ears drooping slightly. </p><p>"Where is she now?" Jane asked.</p><p>Kitty couldn't quite focus on Jane's question, the glistening of her tusks had caught her attention and wasn't letting go. Kitty's ears swivelled backwards and her fur began to bristle. She could only stutter out a brief answer.</p><p>"I think... she's in the attic"</p><p>"Do you know what she's become?"</p><p>"I-I didn't check…" </p><p>Kitty felt pathetic at that answer, not checking on her friend who was in distress out of instinct and fear. But she knew what she saw in Lina's room. And after Anne attacked her, could she really be blamed for having a sense of self-preservation?</p><p>But Jane remained calm and simply nodded in understanding. Kitty was always impressed by Jane's ability to keep a calm demeanour, the fact that she was able to do it even within the body of a giant beast only impressed her more. But Kitty was still nervous, Jane was not like the terrifying, uncanny-valley, human-reptilian look of Anne. But she wasn't comforting and friendly in form like Anna. She still had her huge pointed fangs on constant display, as well as her long curved claws. Jane was harmless, placid and moved gently as lumbered out of the room, ducking her head under the living room doorframe. And her size and the presence of such formidable claws and fangs reminded Kitty a bit too much of a bear. And Kitty knew what bears did to deer when they had the chance.</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>10:00pm</b>
</p><p> </p><p>Anna had put Cathy in her room after changing her wet clothes and getting her into some oversized pyjamas. Anna wondered if she would even need clothes given what was inevitably going to happen next. Anna locked the door as she left, she didn't want to have to fight off two violent, savage, monster Queens in one night.</p><p>Cathy just turned in her sleep, the nausea was eating her alive. Sweat was dripping from every inch of her fevered skin, the feeling was familiar and not in a good way. She remembered the prolonged misery during and after childbirth. The scorching fever and the steadily growing numbness of her body, every minute only prolonging the agony. Cathy may not be delivering a baby this time, rather her bones and muscles were aching with burning pain. </p><p>Cathy's thoughts turned to her child, it was a daughter, she had been called Mary. Cathy knew nothing of her daughter aside from that. After she returned to the modern world, she had hoped to learn of what happened to her daughter in the years passing her death. But she had found nothing. No indication that her daughter had lived past the age of two. That would have been hard enough, Cathy knew how high infant mortality was back then. But instead of any confirmation of death, there was just nothing. No records, no obituary, nothing.</p><p>The final legacy of the Queen consort Catherine Parr vanished from history.</p><p>The enigma, the confusion, the purgatory of not knowing. Was what sparked the final Queens change.</p><p>Cathy's bones suddenly erupted into sharp, intense pain. Cathy cried out, her eyes snapping open. Her body was on fire, her innards aching and cramping, her skin alive with pins and needles. Cathy shivered, her skull was aching, she cried out again only this time her canines had lengthened into bestial fangs.</p><p> Eyes still shut as she was still transfixed in a world of nausea and despair, Cathy rolled out of bed. As she landed on the floor, cocooned in her duvet and sheets, her bones began to snap. Cathy cried out again as her arms were rearranged internally. Her hands bleed at the fingertips as hooked, retractable claws sprung forth, like unsheathed daggers.</p><p>As the anatomy of her arms settled into a new position, Cathy began to involuntarily hoist herself up with her arms as if she was doing a pushup. Her arms and chest had been restructured into a quadrupedal mode, her hands becoming three-toed paws but her thumbs remained as a type of prehensile dewclaw. Cathy groaned as her shoulders and chest bulged with newfound muscle to provide the strength to hold herself up with her forelimbs. </p><p>Cathy's hindquarters were also being reshaped. A bump formed at the top of</p><p>her pyjama bottoms, the waistband was pushed away by a steadily growing tail. The tail grew longer, tapering at the end, a leonine tuft forming at the very tip. </p><p>Cathy's legs buckled as they reformed into an animalistic form. Restructured so she would stand on the balls on her feet, her ankles standing tall, her knees bent. Her legs now resembled those of a large cat, powerful and elegant. Cathy hissed and whined as her skin bloomed with goosebumps, a thin layer of golden fur was growing all over her body.</p><p>Cathy felt intense pressure building around her shoulder blades, she winced as the sound of snapping bone and the feeling of shifting muscle ravaged her senses. In was as if her entire back was being unfolded, and her insides were going to be laid bare for all to see. And with a loud pop, something jutted out her back, pushing against her pyjama shirt. The pressure combined with an unbearable itching feeling from her back and shoulders was driving her mad. With anger, she dug her new claws on her right front paw into the cloth of her shirt and ripped it from her body. With a flurry, a new pair of wings burst from her back, freed from the cloth that was suppressing them. The limbs were quickly overgrown with golden brown feathers, short and downy at the base of her new limbs, extending into long, dark, flight-feathers.</p><p>As her wings grew to their full size her body cracked as it evened out and stabilised. Adjusting to a four-legged mode of standing. Her wings flapped, stretching their new muscles. She kneaded the carpet with her feline claws. She gnashed her teeth as her face stretched and reformed. </p><p>Her face was pushed forwards and her nose was widened into a flat feline shape. With an inhuman snarl, her face became reminiscent of a lions muzzle, the same golden fur on her face with lighter beige fur around her mouth and nose. Her ears popped up from under her thick dark hair, which was now appropriately, mane-like. Her ears grew into extended rounded shapes and gained the ability to be moved and swivelled at will. </p><p>Cathy let out a pantherine snarl, baring her dagger-like teeth as her tail swished in agitation. She opened her eyes for the first time since she saw Jane finish transforming, this time she was in Jane's position. No longer in her skin.</p><p>She was now something more, a combination of three great apex predators.</p><p>The wings and talons of an eagle…</p><p>The body and strength of a lioness…</p><p>And the brain of the most deadly animal of all…</p><p>...a human.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Epilogue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <b>10:10 pm</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Anne’s head was a cacophony of discordant sounds and throbbing pain. The feeling of being clobbered by both hoof and wood still echoing through her skull. She slowly opened her eyes before immediately regretting it as harsh, bright light burned her eyes. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw she was in a bedroom, as she looked around, she recognized the room, it was the downstairs spare bedroom. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anne was confused, she was trying to recollect what had happened in the past few hours. She still remembered the agony of her own skin and flesh falling off. But what followed was nothing but deep, all-consuming hunger. The type of hunger that causes pain in one’s belly and leads to the obsessive desire to pursue any type of food, that overrides one’s mind and leads to insanity. Anne vaguely remembered lunging straight through her window in a frenzy of pain, hunger and fear. Winding her way through trees and bushes in a primal pursuit of prey. And finding it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then Anne remembered, after coiling around what she thought was just a young deer. She saw the face of her cousin, who she was about to kill and devour to satiate her bottomless hunger. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anne jerked up into a sitting position at the memory when it happened, she hadn’t had any time to process what she had done. But now it was all hitting her at once, Anne began hyperventilating as she realized how close she had come to killing Kitty. Not even by accident, she was fully intending on killing her, she remembered how her instinct-driven mind was calculating on whether to either crush her in her coiled grasp, rip her throat out with her claws, or give her a venomous bite.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anne whimpered, she looked down at her hands. She stared at her long claws that sprung from scaled, green fingers. All she could think of was how she was ready to dig them onto Kitty’s throat, and how she did dig them into Anna’s flank. As her tongue flicked out of her mouth, she could taste the scent of Anna’s blood, still on her claws. The scent made her feel sick to her stomach. </span>
</p><p>
  <span> Anne shrieked and dropped her hands to her sides, where she felt soft bedsheets. She had been laid on the bed, which was facing the centre of the room, headboard propped against the left wall. Her entire snake body had been laid on the double-bed like a pile of laundry. The sight didn’t aid Anne’s sickened stomach, the sheer size of her tail was grotesque, unnatural, no snake should be this big. The fact that the giant tail was her body made her even sicker, if she was still human, she’d be sweating.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As she regained more consciousness feeling returned to her whole body, it was very strange and quite disorientating, feeling every inch of the scaled mass, how it overlapped and entangled within itself. Anne shuddered as she uncoiled her tail, she already knew how to move it, but the feeling was still so alien, Anne doubted she’d ever get used to the feeling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anne then tasted something else in the air, with a few more flicks of her tongue she identified the smell, cured meat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Looking to her right Anne saw a whole leg of ham sitting on the bedside table. Anne paused, then felt another pang of hunger. She did never get her feed when in the forest. Anne sighed before grabbing the meat, better to eat dead meat than living. After grabbing the meat, Anne instinctively dislocated her jaw and extended her mouth around the entire circumference of the ham and before she knew it, she had swallowed the entire leg.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anne sighed mentally, at least she wasn’t hungry anymore. Anne slid her body carefully off the bed, her chest landed on the floor as she caught herself with her hands, crawling across the carpet dragging her belly across the floor, dragging herself with her claws. The feeling of her ventral scales gripping the ground and pulling her along the ground felt even more unnatural. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She curved around the bed, her tail unfolding bit by bit from where it was piled. Anne’s eyes suddenly snapped open when she came face to face with a tall, flat object. It was a full-length mirror, leaning against the wall. Anne reactively reared up into an upright ‘standing’ position. But when she realized that she had just seen her reflection and not another creature, the sickening feeling in her stomach reached its peak. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anne hadn’t gotten a chance to get a good look at herself or to even comprehend what she had become after she had transformed. But now she could see it clearly. It wasn’t just her tail or her hands, her whole body was an unholy combination of human and serpent, her skin covered entirely with green scales from her tail to her face. Anne could see the slits in her cheeks where her mouth opened up, she could see glistening fangs in her agape mouth as her forked tongue flicked out involuntarily. She stared deep into her own eyes, bright yellow with narrow slits for pupils.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anne grabbed her head in her clawed hands and lowered from her upright position in shame. She remembered the nightmare she had, that she was no better than the serpent who tempted Adam. Only now instead of being either a temptress or serpent, she was an unholy combination of both. She was a monster.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The same monster that got innocent people killed and threw an entire country into chaos, only to be beheaded like the disgrace she was. Only this time there was no hiding behind a human charade. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was at that moment Anne’s despair curdled into anger. She found herself hating the horrible monster that she saw in the mirror. In her mind, it was nothing short of pure evil, now given physical form. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>With a violent hiss, she struck the mirror with her open hand, her entire body darting forward like a striking cobra. The mirror shattered into a hundred pieces leaving Anne simmering with rage alone in her room.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Anne’s rage petered out as fast as it had spiked, her ears drooped, and her yellow eyes filled with tears. Anne sank further where she was standing and began to coil around herself. She sniffed loudly as the tears began to fall. She had destroyed her reflection, but the monster was still there, it was her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anne buried her face in her scaled hands and began to weep. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>She had hurt so many people, Catalina, Mary, George, now Kitty and Anna. How she not seen it before? How had none of the others seen it before? All she ever did was hurt people, anyone who loved her would either wind up dead or turn on her, now it all made sense. There was no place for love in the heart of a monster as unholy as her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Anne coiled in on herself until she was completely wrapped with her giant tail, it was like the dream being encased in the grasp of a serpent. But this time it was just her. Anne sniffed as she coiled in tighter, she just wanted to hide away from the world.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She just had to accept the truth, that this was who she really was…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>…But why couldn’t she accept that?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>10:20pm</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Anna, Jane and Kitty were all startled by the sounds of roaring and growling coming from upstairs. Then again, they really shouldn’t have this surprised at this stage. What followed was the decision as to who would go up there and help the recently transformed Queen out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll go,” Jane said, lumbering over to the stairs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Jane are you sure it’s safe? Can you even fit up there?” Kitty asked, immediately shushing up at the perceived rudeness of the later statement. But Jane didn’t take it to heart. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Look, I made her faint, so I am partially responsible for her being in this situation” Jane explained, placing a paw on the third stair. “So, I feel like I should help her out. And besides, we already have two destroyed rooms, we don’t need a third. Seeing as I will inevitably be the one to clean them up.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane cautiously made her way up the stairs, each time she placed a foot or paw down they creaked extremely loudly. It was a tight squeeze getting up to the second floor, but Jane cautioned though it. As she approached Cathy’s room, the sound of growling grew louder as did the sound of thumping and things being broken. Jane sighed and placed her face right up to the door, with a large hairy knuckle she knocked gently. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cathy? c’mon, Cathy, it’s me, Jane, are you okay?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The growling paused for a second, before shuffling was heard from the other side of the door. Jane waiting for the next few minutes and then she had a realization. While she didn’t know what Cathy had become, she was also a mountain of a beast and could probably take on whatever was on the other side of the door. So, with a deep breath, Jane turned the doorknob and pushed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cathy I’m coming in now” she announced, entering Cathy’s room with difficulty. At least this time she wasn’t carrying an unconscious Cathy in one arm. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The room’s light was on, so it wasn’t as scary or menacing as it could’ve been, but the strewn about furniture and torn bedsheets weren’t a good sign. Once Jane had stuck her head through the doorframe, she saw something move suddenly out of the corner of her eye. Before she could react, a flurry of feathers blasted her in the face as the thing barreled right past her missing her by inches. Jane snorted in irritation waving a paw around her face as whatever it was scurred under Cathy’s bed. Jane could just see the last of it go under the bed, which caused her confusion. She knew that it had feathers but darting under the bed she could swear she saw a lion’s tail?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane snuffed and pushed her way into the room. As she approached the bed, she could hear more shuffling coming from underneath. “Cathy?” she asked gently as she leaned down on her knuckles. After a minute of silence, Jane placed a paw on the wooden bed frame and pushed up. Jane lifted the bed slowly the same way one would open a treasure chest, and under the bed was Cathy who could not be less happy to see her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane recognized the feathers and the lion’s tail. Cathy had become a bizarre three-way combination of human, lion and bird. Cathy backed into the un-lifted side of the bed keeping her body close to the ground in a crouching position. Her wings were splayed in a wide position to make herself look bigger, her claws were out, and her teeth were bared. Cathy gave a pantherine snarl as she bristled her fur and feathers and pinned her ears against her head. She was acting defensive…afraid. Jane remembered the look of terror on Cathy’s face after she finished transforming, this was the same fear only Cathy was hiding beneath a wall of aggression. Now Cathy was hissing and snarling like a caged animal. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nevertheless, Jane was happy to see Cathy awake and alive, although in an altered state. Jane gave Cathy a warm and patient smile. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cathy it’s okay…it’s me Jane!” she said lifting the bed a bit more. Cathy backed into the shadows with the rising bed, snapped her jaws as a threat. Jane slowly extended a paw, Cathy fluffed up even more at the sight of the white paw approaching her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cathy it’s okay, you’ve got nothing to worry about…” Jane beckoned as Cathy backed right up against the wall. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing to worry about…” Jane kept reassuring as her paw got closer to Cathy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing to- “Cathy finally had it with this paw invading her personal space, and as quick as a flash she lunged at Jane’s paw and sunk both her teeth and claws into Jane’s paw, freezing in place right as she hooked into Jane’s flesh.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Jane didn’t pull away, she also froze in place not even flinching at the feeling of Cathy’s fangs and claws digging into her. After a few minutes of silence from both of them, Jane’s smile returned.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“see…nothing to worry about!” Jane whispered.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cathy blinked; her eyes locked with Jane’s. The wide-eyed, feral look on Cathy’s face began to dissolve into a more surprised look, her ears going from being pinned against her head to facing towards Jane. Cathy retracted her claws from Jane’s paw and slowly removed her teeth. Jane’s fur was so thick that Cathy had barely pierced the skin, she hadn’t even drawn blood. But Cathy still felt remorse for her attack, and with sorry eyes, she licked Jane’s paw.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane beamed; it was still her Cathy. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cathy slowly creeped out from under the bed, no longer afraid. She unfluffed her wings with a flap, her fur and feathers bristling. Cathy looked up at Jane apologetically, for both attacking her now and passing out on her back at the car. Jane’s immense size, however, Cathy still found unnerving. Jane seemed to know this and sat backwards, lowering herself to Cathy’s level. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“J-Jane?” Cathy asked, finally finding her voice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hi Cathy,” Jane said with a grin. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna was right, for a beast bigger than a grizzly bear, Jane was very pleasant. Cathy walked right up to Jane and crept right onto her lap. Jane ran her claws gently though Cathy’s wings, parting the golden feathers. Cathy just headbutted Jane lightly, resting her chin on Jane’s fluffy shoulder. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-I’m sorry Jane” Cathy whimpered. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s fine Cathy, you didn’t hurt me” Jane reassured, still petting Cathy’s fur and feathers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, that’s not it…” Cathy said, removing her head from Jane’s shoulder to face her directly, “…I’m sorry for being so afraid before, sorry for not trusting you. I just…had no idea what was happening, and you were…well ARE huge.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane was surprised, but her look of confusion was quickly replaced with a warm, sympathetic smile. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aaaaw Cathy…” Jane laughed, rubbing Cathy’s cheek with her thumb, Cathy was caught off-guard by how relaxing and calming it felt as she leant into the warm, leathery pad of Jane’s thumb. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cathy do you think I’m mad or offended because you fainted? Cathy if I had been the one to see you turn into a creature without any idea of what was going on, I’d faint too! No offence”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cathy giggled, nuzzling into Jane’s paw, Cathy was so lost in instinctual euphoria that she began to lose control over her actions again. Only this time instead of biting or snarling, a light rumbling came from her throat and chest. Jane was taken aback by the vibrating noise Cathy was making. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cathy, are you purring?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cathy’s ears perked up, and then she smiled back. “Yeah, I guess I can do that now” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jane laughed, a deep, hearty laugh that echoed through the whole room. “You bite me when I try to touch you, you crawl into my lap just for affection, and now you’re purring…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>…you really are part cat!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cathy paused for a second, and then with a smirk, she placed her forepaws on Jane’s shoulders and began kneading her fur with her claws.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Cathy!” Jane laughed; Cathy’s claws still weren’t enough to piercing her fur, so all Cathy’s kneading did was tickle her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll have you know I am an almighty Lion! </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But I still want you to pet me” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <b>10:30 pm</b>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Anna finally decided to bite the bullet and check up on Lina, it wasn’t easy walking up all those stairs in her giant horse form. But with caution Anna made it up to the attic, her giant hooves clobbering loudly on the stairs. As Anna approached the attic door, she began to feel a sense of dread. Anna listened carefully for any sounds coming from the other side of the door, her nostrils flared as she sniffed the area for any sign of Lina. All should smell was a very musty, dry smell, that sent shivers up her spine. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna had little idea of what to expect, the deep claw marks on the walls and the roaring she’s heard before was not a great sign. Lina was likely a predatory beast, like Anne, it explained why Anna was being put on edge by her scent alone. But Anna had to persist, Lina needed help and Anna had to at least let her know she was there for her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna gently knocked on the door, there was no response. Anna knocked again, no response.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lina?” Anna called, receiving more silence as a reply. “Lina, it’s me, Anna, I know you’ve been transformed, so have I! so have the others! You are not alone!” still no response. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna sighed; her patience was running out. She was still afraid of what might be on the other side of that door, but the suspense of what Lina had become was killing her. With a deep breath, Anna placed her hand on the doorknob. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lina, I’m coming in,” Anna said firmly before pushing the door open.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The attic had been mostly empty for a while now, filled with only a few old pieces of furniture that they had no use for, and some unopened boxes. The attic was dark, illuminated only by the patch of moonlight, cast from one window that formed a square spotlight on the creaky floorboards. The shapes of the furniture were dark and imposing, looming over Anna and casting dark shadows over the room. Anna thought searching for a monstrous Lina wouldn’t be hard, it’s not like the attic was very big. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But the darkness reminded Anna of the days where she’d often have to navigate dark, echoing corridors in castles at night, with only candlelight to guide her. Those weren’t especially pleasant memories for Anna, she had no nostalgia for the very real fear of being lost in the dark. Cautiously Anna trotted into the room, stooping under the doorframe, looking around the room for any trace of Catalina.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then Anna heard something with her heightened equine hearing. It sounded like a shaky breath, the type one makes while crying. Anna sniffed the air and picked up a certain scent, the same one from before. Anna’s ears and nose lead her to look over to the window of the attic, over by the large window was a torn couch which was too dishevelled to have in the house but not ruined enough to throw out. It was placed perpendicular to the window in front of a bunch of random boxes and dressers. But there was a space between the side of the couch and the wall with the window, and in that space, Anna could see a large dark shape.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna took a cautious step towards the shape, it looked like a large, dark, cocoon hunched in the shadows. Anna took another step took another step towards the shape; on closer inspection, the cocoon looked a lot like it was made of…stone? Anna’s ears flicked with confusion; this thing looked like it was made of stone, but Anna could see it move.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Catalina?” Anna said quietly, still trying to make out the shape. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then, the outer layers of the cocoon moved. Anna was stunned at what she saw, it was made of a stone-like substance yet it bended and warped like something more stretchy and flexible. Anna froze in her tracks, she was confused and frightened at the logic-defying sight that lay before her. As the outer shell of the cocoon parted, Anna could see something peering out of the shadows beneath. It looked like two bright yellow eyes, shining like candles from the darkened stone. Anna stared straight into the eyes and the eyes stared right back. Both in a stalemate and unsure of what move to make. After a few seconds, the cocoon closed again, a voice came from the cocoon. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Go away,” it said wearily.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna immediately recognized the voice “Lina! There you are!” Anna exclaimed slowly walking over to her friend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A low growl emitted from the cocoon as it tightened even more, Anna kept approaching offering an outstretched hand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lina, you could at least let me know what’s up,” Anna asked nervously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After a few seconds of silence, the cocoon unravelled again, this time it half-opened. Anna saw for the first time that it wasn’t a cocoon, but rather a pair of large bat-like, wings. From inside the folded wings shone the eyes once again, looking up at Anna with sorrow. As the wings opened up more Anna could see more of Lina, and it suddenly dawned on Anna why Lina was so upset. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Along with the huge bat wings, Lina also had large, curled horns, menacing talons and a tail with a large arrowhead-shaped blade at the tip. All with skin and flesh that resembled chiselled stone, the way she moved with the same ease as a creature with soft flesh unnerved Anna to her core. Lina’s luminescent eyes blinked, a look of both despair and scorn on her stone face, a bat-like ear twitched as she dared Anna to make her next move. Anna looked at Lina’s clutched hand, within the grasp of her talons she could see Lina’s rosary held firmly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna took a step back on instinct, she instantly regretted this action as she didn’t want to enforce Lina’s fear. But Anna didn’t have much else to say, any words of consultation would be dead on arrival with Lina is this form. But there was no harm in trying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lina, are you okay?” Anna asked feebly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lina scowled; her expression accentuated by her prominent brow ridge. A low snarl rumbled through Lina’s closed lips.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, I am not okay” she snapped, still solemn and reserved. Lina bowed her head and closed her wings in slightly. “In case you haven’t noticed, I have become an abomination”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna was confused “Lina, aren’t I also an abomination?” she asked, flicking her tail as if to remind Lina of her equally inhuman state. Lina just snorted, snarling in her throat again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I see you, you have a horse’s body, but you aren’t the spitting image of Satan”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna’s ears drooped, normally she’d tease Lina for being a bit too religiously paranoid, but this was so far beyond anything that had happened before, Anna was completely lost for words. Lina looked to her left, her scowl fading into a look of sadness.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know what happened to you, or the others…but I know that this is my punishment for straying from my ties, of being disloyal to my faith. Now look at me, I am the Devil’s property”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna was caught off-guard by the harshness of that final statement. “Lina don’t say that! You aren’t anyone’s property!” she protested.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“WHY NOT!?” Lina suddenly snarled loudly, standing up quickly, giving her wings a flap. Anna backed up a few more steps, the confidence she had before even when fending off Anne had disappeared at the sight of her friend in such a state, both physically and mentally. She pinned her ears and raided her hands outward as a sign of defence. Lina was snarling for real now, her eyes burning with rage.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What use does all this modern-thinking have when the past will always haunt me!? In case you’ve forgotten, I was supposed to a warrior for my faith! For the Catholic Church! But without that what am I?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lina’s anger quickly fizzled, her wings lowering and the familiar sadness returning to her face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I am of no use to my higher purpose. So now I’m only worthy to be an abomination, a demon unfit to be seen under Heaven.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna could now clearly see the marks of tears on Lina’s stone cheeks, another lone tear fell down her face once more. Anna wanted so desperately to comfort her friend, but Lina was being irrational, unstable and she couldn’t predict what she would do. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lina…” Anna croaked pathetically unable to think of anything else to do or say. Lina just sniffed, her wings beginning to wrap back around her body. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Just leave me be Anna, you’re too good for my unholy self, I don’t want to risk corrupting you.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna was shocked, emboldened to try one last time to help her friend. “Lina, you must know you could never corrupt me,” she said as she reached out to place a hand on Lina as a show of solidarity. But the moment Anna’s hand made contact with the outer surface of Lina’s wing, Lina whipped her wing away and growled very loudly at Anna, her lips curled back exposing her dagger-like fangs, her eyes burning as bright as a furnace. This was all meant as a warning, but Lina’s instinct and adrenaline-fueled mind didn’t know this was too much.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna was frightened and the terror on her face wasn’t lost on Lina, Lina switched back to despair again at the sight of Anna’s fear. More tears fell down Lina’s face at the knowledge of the danger her Hellish form brought to her beloved friend. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“please Anna…I don’t want to hurt you…just leave me…please” Lina sniffed, before darting behind the furniture pile to weep in solitude.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna knew there was no point in trying, nothing was going to work. With a heavy heart, Anna turned around and made her way back down the stairs.   </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>~~~~~~~~~</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Kitty was sitting on the couch tensely awaiting the return of Anna and any sounds or signs from Cathy's room. Kitty had heard some roaring and growling from Cathy's room and something similar from the attic, she wanted to help but the instincts in her mind and gut wouldn't let her. Kitty grumbled, her ear twitching in frustration. Kitty hated being so tiny and fragile, especially amongst other more powerful beasts. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Then Kitty heard the distinct sound of large hooves clopping down the stairs. Her ears perked up and she turned to face the stairwell. Anna slowly ambled down the stairs one hoof at a time, holding onto the wall for support. Kitty hopped off the couch and walked over to the stairs to greet Anna. Kitty's heart sank when she saw Anna's face, Anna looked dejected and defeated. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"How was Lina, is she okay?" Kitty asked quietly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna sighed, but it came out as a low snort through her nose. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Forget it, she doesn't want my help, she just wants to sulk alone" Anna grumbled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kitty nodded, "what has she become?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna looked Kitty in the eyes with a serious expression "she had horns, wings, talons and a forked tail" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The moment those words left Anna's mouth Kitty immediately understood why Lina was so unconsolable. Her ears drooped at the implications.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You don't think that she's a... y'know…" Kitty asked, dancing around what she meant by a creature fitting Lina's description. Anna just shook her head "I don't think so Kitz, she seemed... different...it looked like her skin was made of stone."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kitty's eyes looked from side to side, the cogs turning in her head. Her face perked up with a realisation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Gargoyle!" She exclaimed. Anna looked at her puzzled. "What?...do you think Lina's a Gargoyle?" Kitty just nodded in response. "But how? Gargoyles aren't real creatures, they're just statues!" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kitty just shrugged "Well you did say she was made of stone" Anna nodded "good point, good grief here I am trying to bring logic into this madness."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The pair walked over to the glass doors, the snow had stopped falling but it had left enough to change the view of the landscape.  The foreboding, inky blackness in a more palatable blanket of white.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kitty sighed "Anna what are we going to do?" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Anna looked down at the tiny fawn "about what?" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"About the fact that we're no longer human Anna! Or did you forget!" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh of course! I guess I did forget!" Anna laughed, Kitty couldn't help but laugh too, the absurdity of the situation was something. Anna just stroked the fauns ears with a gentle hand. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Look this is...really weird...but we'll figure this out!" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Kitty gave a small smile, there was little more she could do. She just placed a hand on the centaur's flank and stared back out the window. They were right about this modern age, strange things had a tendency to happen.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This is the end of part one, the next part will be another work in this series</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Here's a link to all the Monster Queen designs on my tumblr--&gt; https://spooner7308.tumblr.com/post/635452233009463296/six-monster-au-masterpost</p></blockquote></div></div>
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